*Emma Taylor, 89, was born a slave of the Greer family, in Mississippi.
She and her mother were sold to a Texas man, whose name Emma has
forgotten. Emma lives with one of her children, in Tyler, Texas.*
"My maw and paw lived in Mississippi, and belonged to Marse Greer. Dat
dere name, too. All the slaves tooken dere master's name, 'cause dey
hadn't no use for a name, nohow.
"De first thing I 'members is followin' my maw in the cotton patch. She
allus went ahead, pickin' cotton, and made a clean place with her sack
draggin' on the ground. But de first work I ever done was feed de
chickens and geese and shell corn to feed dem.
"Us nigger chillen couldn't play with de white chillen. De worstest
whippin' I ever got was fer playin' with a doll what belonged to one
marse's chillen. I 'members it yet and I ain't never seed a doll purty
as dat doll was to me. It was make out a corncob with arms and legs what
moved and a real head, with eyes and hair and mouth painted on. It had a
dress out of silk cloth, jist like one my missus weared when she went to
meetin'. Dat li'l gal done leave de doll under de tree, but missus found
me playin' with it and whipped me hard.
"We lived in a cabin in de back field 'hind de big house, one room and a
shed room, where maw done all de cookin' for de whole family. I had
three brothers and three sisters, all dead, I supposes. Dey all older'n
what I was. We cooked on a fireplace, and a big pot hanged on poles over
de fire and de bread cook on dat fire in a skillet what was made of two
pieces of iron, turn up all round. We puts de dough in one and turns de
other one over it, den buries it in de coals a few minutes till it brown
on de top and bottom. It was good, jist as good as nowadays, baked in a
oven. Our beds was made out of straw and old rags, but we kept warm
sleepin' a whole lot in one bed in winter, but we slept outside in
summer.
"I was sold one time. Marse, he gittin' old and 'cide he didn't need so
many slaves, so he have de sale and a man come and put us all up on a
big platform. We pulls off nearly all our clothes, so as to show how big
we was, and he 'gins hollerin' 'bout who gwineter buy, who gwineter buy.
I was scart and thunk I has to leave maw, so I 'gins hollerin' jist as
loud as he does. He turn 'round and say, 'Shut up, you li'l coon, you. I
can't hear nothin'.' I hides my face in maw's apron and didn't know no
more till we's all loaded in a wagon and starts to de new home. We gits
dere and is give new clothes and shoes, de first ones I ever had on and
it taken me a long time to larn to wear dem things on my feet.
"Us niggers has to git up at four in de mornin', and work, work till us
can't see no more. Den dey work at night. De men chops wood and hauls
poles to build fences and make wood, and de women folks has to spin four
cuts of thread every night and make all de clothes. Some has to card
cotton to make quilts and some weave and knits stockin's. Marse give
each one a chore to do at night and iffen it warn't did when we went to
bed, we's whipped. One time I falls plumb asleep befo' I finishes
shellin' some corn, but I didn't git a bad whippin' dat time.
"Sometimes de niggers danced and played de fiddle and us chillen played
in de yard. We could stay up all night dem times, but had to work next
day, and hardly ever stayed up all night. Dat durin' harvest or at
Christmas time.
"All de victuals was issued out by de overseer and he give 'nough for
one week, den iffen us eat it all up too soon, it am jist go without.
Lots of times, I went down to de 'tato patch a long time after everybody
am in bed, and stole 'tatoes, so we wouldn't be hungry next day. I allus
covered de hole up good and never did git cotched. De dogs got after me
one time, but I put pepper in dey eyes and dey stopped. I allus carried
pepper with me.
[Illustration: _Emma Taylor_]
"I marries when I's fifteen, not so long befo' I'm free. Nigger men
didn't git no license to marry dey gals den. Dey jist picked her out and
asked marse, and iffen he 'grees, dey's married. But iffen he don't want
it, dat man has to find heself 'nother gal. De men what lived on 'nother
plantation couldn't see dere wives but onct every two weeks. Marse buyed
my husban', Rube Taylor, and he come to live with me.
"One day marse say we's all free and we has a big celebration, eatin'
and dancin'. But we near all stayed on his place for a long time after
day. He paid us thirty-five cents de day and let us live in de same old
houses.
"After we done left him, we jist drifts 'round, workin' for white folks,
till we manages to git a farm. Rube done died a long time back, and I
lives with my baby child."