*Interview with Harriet Lee,*
*Cape Girardeau, Missouri.*
"Mah mammy tole me ah wuz jes fo' year ole wen de war end, so ah don'
'member much 'bout fo' de war. Ole Massa wuz Buckner Caldwell an' ole
Missus, we a'ways call Miss Coon, dat de only name ah knows huh by, jes
Miss Coon. He war a fine ole man but she war a hard one. Ah wuz name
aftuh young Missie Harriet.
"De white folks had a fine house, a very large house standin' high up on
a bluff 'bout a mile an three quawterhs fum Cumbuhlain' Rivuh. Dat wuz
in Smith County, Tennessee.
"Ah don rightly 'member 'bout how many slaves dey had, but dere war
sev'ral cabins whut us cullud folks live in.
"Mah mammy and daddy wuz Sarah an Bob Tadwell. Mammy wuz raised in
Vuhginyuh an' when she wuz sixteen yeah ole she wuz put on de block an'
sold in Nashville.
"Mah mammy wuz a seamstress. She nevuh work in de fiel', an' she don'
know nuthin' 'bout cookin', but she do fine sewin'. When dey put her on
de block dey has some o' huh work dar tuh show what fine sewin' she kin
do. Yuh know all de sewin war done by han' an mah mammy'd sew sometime
till huh finguhs nearly drap off. She sew de fines' tucks an' she make
all dem fine tuck bosom shurts fo' de men.
"One time a man come an' wunna buy mammy an me. Miss Coon wuz gonna sell
us unbeknownst to ole Massa. Ole Massa wouldn' sell none o' his people,
but Miss Coon ahways try to put things ovuh on him an' he couldn' do
nuthin 'bout it but go git drunk. Ole Miss Coon put de price on us a way
up high--'cause mammy sech a fine seamstress an' ah wuz ahways a buxum
chile, nevuh sick er nuthin. But he say dat too much an' he go on home.
Aftuh while wen dey so much talk 'bout freein' de niggers Miss Coon sont
him word dat she come way down on de price but he sont back word dat he
got ez much sense as she got.
"We lef' thar when we wus free. My mammy ahways got work a sewin'. Ah
stayed wuth one white woman fifteen year.
"Yessum de Ku Kluxes cum aroun' right smaht. De woman ah stayed wuth
wouldn' 'low no foolishness roun' her place an' dey nevuh bothuh huh
none, but dey beat up some o' de neighbors. One ole man dey beat till he
die."