Ohio Guide ~ Special
		Ex-Slave Stories
	-.*	August 16, 1937



DAVID A. ITATL

	“I was born ~t (-~-o1dsboro, N. C., J~u1y 25, 1847. I never knew who owned my father, but my mother‘s master‘s naine was Lifich Famer. My rLother did. not live on the plantation but had a little cabin in town. You see, she worked as a cook in the hotel ~nd her IrAaster wanted her to live close to her work. I was börn in the cabin in town.

	“N, I never went to school ~ but I was tau~it a 1 1 ttle by my master ‚ s daüghter, and can read and write a little .. As a slav~ boy I had to work in the miii~ary school in Goldsboro. I waited~able~and washed. disbes, but my wages went to my masterthe s~:ie as my mother‘s.

	“I was about fourteen when the war broke and remember when the Yankees cen~e t1~uough our town. there was a Yankee soldier by the naine of Kuhns who took charge oi~ a Government Store. lie would sell tobacco and such like to the soldiers. lie was the man who told me I was free ànd then give me a job working in the store.

	“I had some brothers and. sisters but I do not remember them — can‘t tel].
	you anything about theni.	~

	“Our beds were homemade out of poplar lumber and. we slept on straw ticks. We had good things to eat and. a lot of corn cakes and. sweet potatoes. I had pretty good clothes, shoes, pants and a shirt, the saine winter and sun~er.

	“I don‘t know anything about the plantation as I had to work in town and did not go out there very much. ~ i‘~o, I don‘t know how big it was or how many slaves there was. I never heard of any uprisings either.

	“Ouî~ overseer was ‘poor white trash‘ ‚ hired. by the master. I remember the iriaster lived in a big white house and he was always kind to his slaves, so was his wife and children, but we didn‘t like the overseer. I heard of some slaves
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