"I heered papa talk about how he was sold. He say the overseer so mean
he run off in the woods and eat blackberries for a week.
"I guess we had plenty to eat. I know mama used to fetch us somethin' to
eat from the house. Old missis give it to her. I know I was glad to get
it.
"When the people was freed they was so glad they went from house to
house and prayed and give thanks to the Lord.
"Our folks stayed right there and worked on the shares.
"I never went to school but about two weeks. My papa was hard workin'.
Other folks would let their chillun rest but he wouldn't let his chillun
rest. He sure did work us hard.
"You know in them days people moved 'round so much they didn't have time
to keep up no remembrance 'bout their ages. We didn't have no time to
see 'bout no ages--had to work. That's the truth."
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed: Wash Ford, Des Arc, Arkansas
Age: 73 or 75?
"I was born close to Des Arc and Hickory Plains, seems like about half
way. Mama's master was named Powell. Papa's master was Frank Ford. My
parents was Fannie and Henry Ford. I was the oldest child. There was 6
boys, 4 girls of us.
"They didn't get anything after freedom. They kept on farming. They
started working on shares. That was all they could do. If they expected
anything I never heard it.
"I heard my mother say when I was small Papa was bouncing me up and
down. He was lying on the floor playing like wid me. She looked up the
road or 'cross the field one, and said, 'Yonder come some soldiers. What
they coming here for?' Papa put me down and run. He hid. They didn't
find him. It was soldiers from De Valls Bluff I judge. They made the
colored men go wait on them and fight too, if they run up on one. That
is what I heard.
"My father voted. He voted a Republican ticket. I do cause he did I
reckon. I still vote. If the colored man could vote in the Primary it
wouldn't be no better. They know better who to put in office, to run the
offices right. I think it is right for a woman to vote.
"I been farming all my life. I was a section hand much as six months in
all my life. I work at the veneer mills but they never run no more. I am
having a hard time. I have high blood pressure. I can't pick cotton. I
can't even get a mess of turnip greens. The Social Welfare helps me a
little and I am janitor up town in two offices. They hand me a little
pocket change. It amount to maybe $2 a month. I had that job four years.
If I could work I would be on the farm. I could make a living there. I
always did. I had plenty on the farm.
"Young folks don't take on no manners. The young folks take care of
themselves. It is the old ones seeing a hard time now."
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed: Wash Ford, Des Arc, Ark.
Age: 75?
"One thing I remembers hearin' my folks talk bout. They had a leader
hoeing cotton. His name was John. He was a fast hand. He hoe one row a
piece and reach over and hoe the other. He'd get way ahead of the other
hands. If they didn't keep up they get a whoopin. So he rest till they
ketch up. Once he hoed up to a tree--big shade tree out in the field. He
stuck his hoe in the root of the tree and a moccasin bit him bout that
time. It bit him right on the toe. They took him up to the house but he
died.
"I was born close to Des Arc and Hickory Plains. My parents was Henry
and Fannie Ford. Her master was named Powell and his master was named
Frank Ford. I was the oldest 'mong six boys and four girls. My folks
didn't git nuthing. I don't think they expected freedom much. They heard
they goiner be free and knowed they was fightin'. They didn't know what
freedom be like. When they was set free at DeValls Bluff they signed up.
They went back and went on farmin' lack nothin' ever happened. That what
I heard em say when I was small boy.
"I voted--Republican ticket, I believe. If I vote that what I vote. I
reckon the women ought to vote. I still vote that is if I sees fit to
vote.
"My father run from the soldiers. He didn't go to the war as I ever
knowd of.
"I been farmin' all my life till I got so nocount I ain't able to do
nothin' no more. I worked on the section bout six months. I worked some
off an on at the veneer mill till it shut down. I does a little janitor
work now and the Welfare help me a little.
"The present conditions good if a fellow able to pick cotton but if they
run through with it times be hard in the heart of the winter cause they
cain't git no credit. Times is hard for old folks."
Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor
Person interviewed: Judia Fortenberry
712 Arch Street, Little Rock, Arkansas
Age: 75
Occupation: Field hand
[May 21 1938]
[HW: Slaves Allowed to Visit]
"I was born three miles west of Hamburg in Ashley County, Arkansas, in
the year 1859, in the month of October. I don't know just what day of
the month it was.
"My mother was named Indiana Simms and my father was named Burrell
Simms. My father's mother was named Ony Simms, and my mother's mother
was named Maria Young. I don't know what the names of their parents was.
"My mother's master was named Robert Tucker. My father's master was
named Hartwell Simms. Their plantations were pretty close together, but
I don't know how my father and my mother got together. I guess they just
happened to meet up with each other. The slaves from the two plantations
were allowed to visit one another. After their marriage, the two
continued to belong to different masters. Every Sunday, they would visit
one another. My father used to come to visit his wife every Sunday and
through the week at night.
"My mother had ten children.