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~	Robert Falls was born on December I4,I84O,~n the rambling one-story
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shack that acconiodated the fifteen slaves of‘ his Old Marster,Bea~ie Goforth,on

a farm In Claiborne County,North Carolina. His tall frame is sli~ht1y stooped, but he je not subj ec ted to the cust omary infi rrnit le s of the aged ‚ o ther than poor vision and hearing. Fairly comfortable ‚ he is spethin~ his dec1inln~ years in Contentment, for he is now the first consideration o±~ his daughter,Mrs.Lola Reed, with whom he lives at ~6O8 S.Broadway,Knoxville,Tennessee. Ris cushioned rocking chair is the honor seat of the household.His apo1o~y f~r not offering it to visitors, is that he is ~ not so fast on his feet as he used to be.~

	Des~ite Uncle Robert‘s protest that his „ mind comes and goes“, his niernory5 iskeen,andhis sense of humor unimpaired. His reminiscences of slave days

are enriched by hi.s ability to recreate scenes and incidents in few wQras, and by ~ . his. powers of mimicry. “If I had my life to live ovźr,Hhe declares,“. I would ~d1e fighting rather than be a slave again. I want no man‘s yoke on my shoulders no ~ S

S	more. ~itin theindays, us niggers didntknow no betters All we lcnowed was work, • and h~rd work. We was learned~ to say, ‘Yes Sin ‚ and. scrape down and bows, ~ to ~ S dō~justexactly what we was told to do, ~nake no difference if we wanted to or not.

.	Old ~&arster and Old Mistress would say, UDo this 1“ and ~e don‘l t . ~.nd they say, t Corne hero I ‚ and. 1f we cUdnt come to them, they c ozue to us . And they brought the

b~unch of switches with thea.«	S u They didnt half feed us either. They fed the animals better.They

cives the iailes, ru.ffage and such, to chaw on all night.Bat they did~t gl~ us	S

nothing to chaw on. Learned us to steal, that‘s what they done.~h~ we would

	take anything we could lay oar hands on,wlien we was hun~y.Then the~r‘d whip us ~ for lieixig when we say we dont ~ow nothing about it. ~t it was easier to stand, S when the. stomach was ±ull . ~ ~ .




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