blind ‘fore she died. I useter visit her once a Ye‘r en she~d load me dQwn wid things ter tek home, a linsey petticoat, ham bones, cracklins en diff‘ent things. She died 18 years ago almos‘ a 100 ye‘r oie.

	De white folks wouldn‘t let de slaves hab a book er papáh fer fear dey‘d l‘arn sumpin‘, en ef dey wan‘ed ter pray dey‘d tu‘ri a kettle down at dere cabin do‘er. I member/~arin‘ rnah mammy pray tt0~ Father op‘n ~ up de do‘ers en sho us lite~“/ I‘d look up ter de ceiling ter see ef he wuz gonna ~ op‘ n up sumpin‘ ; silly,. silly me, thinkin‘ such • I‘ ~ ‘longs ter de Missionary Baptist chuch but I don‘t git ter go very off‘n.

	I wuz tole ‘fore freedurri dat de slaves would git a mule, land en a new suit, but our missis didn‘t gib us a thing. She promis‘ me, rnah br‘rer, en three sistahs ef‘n we would stay wid her a ye‘r, en he‘p her rnek a crop she would gib us surnp‘in ter start us a crop on w‘en we lef‘ her.

	Mah daddy‘s marster wus named Bob Rankiri, he gib mali daddy a hog, su~m chickens, let~himhab a cow ber milk en land ter raise a crop on.~ He wan‘edrnah daddy t~ git us tergedder te!~ie‘p daddy raise a crop c but since‘ mali missis had promised us so mucI‘~, daddy let us stay wid her a‘ye‘r. On de nite mah daddy kum fer us, mah missis sezs I‘ve not got nuthin ter gib you, fer I won‘t bah mobody ter do nuthin fer me. We went wid our ~ir1dy, We lived dore on Marster Rankin‘s farm fer ye‘rs in fact so long we tho‘t deplace ‘longed ter mahdaddy. We had a house wid big cracks in hit, had a big fier place,a big pot dat hong on de fier en a skillet dat we cooked corn bread in. Had a hill

: ob taters under de house, would raise upa plank, rake down in de dirt

~.	git taters, put dem in de fier ter roast. We had meat ber eat in de ~‚ middle ~ ob de day but none at ruawnin‘ er nite.We got one pair ob shoes

a ye‘r, dey had brass on de toes. I ustergit out en shine de toes

L~ob minet we called~hit gd‘ on ourshoes. We wuked in de fiel‘ wid Irn.~ daddy, en i...knowhow ter do ebertir~g dore ez ter do in a fiel‘ kcept plow, I wuZ allus ter slender ter hold a plow. We had grease
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