"Mother" Lindsay is a Bible-reading, neat and clean-appearing,
pleasant-mannered business woman, a little bulky, but carrying herself
like a woman thirty years. She runs a cafe on Ninth Street and manages
her own business competently. She refers to it as "Hole in the Wall."
I had been trying for sometime to catch her away from her home. It was
almost impossible for me to get a story from her at her restaurant or
at her home.
She doesn't like to sit long at a time and doesn't like to tell too
much. When she feels quarters are a little close and that she is
telling more than she wants to, she says, "Honey, I ain't got no more
time to talk to you; I got to get back to the cafe and get me a cup of
coffee."
Will Glass, who has a story of his own, collaborated with her on her
story. He has an accurate and detailed memory of many things. He is
too young to have any personal memories. But he remembers everything
he has been told by his grandparents and parents, and they seem to
have talked freely to him unlike the usual parents of that period.
Interviewer: Mrs. Bernice Bowden
Person interviewed: Rosa Lindsey
302 S. Miller Street, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Age: 83
"I was born in Georgia and I'm 83.
"My white folks was named Abercrombie.
"I don't remember my mother and I hardly remember my father. My white
folks raised me up. I 'member my missis had me bound to her when I was
twelve. I know when my grandma come to take me home with her, I run
away from her and went back to my white folks.
"My white folks was rich. I belonged to my young missis. She didn't
'low nobody to hit me. When she went to school she had me straddle the
horse behind her. The first readin' I ever learned was from the white
folks.
"I think the Yankees took Columbus, Georgia on a Sunday morning. I
know they just come through there and tore up things and did as they
pleased.
"I stayed there a long time after the Yankees went back.
"Old master wasn't too old to go to war but he didn't go. I think he
had to dodge around to keep the Yankees from gettin' him. I think he
went to Texas but we didn't go.
"I loved my white folks 'cause I knowed more about them than anybody
else.
"I come here to Arkansas with a young white lady just married. She
'suaded me to come with her and I just stayed.
"Biggest thing I have did is washin' and ironin'. But now I am doing
missionary work in the Sanctified church.
"I don't know 'bout the younger generation. Looks like 'bout near
ever'body lost now. There's some few young people is saved now but
they ain't many."
Interviewer: Thomas Elmore Lucy
Person interviewed: William Little,
Atkins, Arkansas
Age: 83
"I was born on the plantation of Dr. Andrew Scott, but my old ma'ster
was Col. Ben T. Embry. The 14th of March, in the year 1855, was my
birthday. Yes suh, I was born right here at old Galla Rock! My old
Ma'ster Embry had a good many slaves. He went to Texas and stayed
about three years. Took a lot of us along, and de first work I ever
done after I was set free was pickin' cotton at $2 a hundred pounds.
Dere was seventy-five or a hundred of us freed at once. Yes suh! Den
we drove five hundred miles back here from Texas, and drove five
hundred head of stock. We was refigees--dat's de reason we had to go
to Texas.
"Father and mother both passed away a good many years ago. Oh, yes,
dey was mighty well treated while dey was in slavery; never was a
kinder mas'r anywhere dan my old mas'r. And he was wealthy, too--had
lots of land, and a store, and plenty of other property. Many of the
slaves stayed on as servants long after the War, and lived right
around here at old Galla Rock.
"No suh, I never belonged to no chu'ch; dey thought I done too much of
the devil's work--playin' the fiddle. Used to play the fiddle for
dances all around the neighborhood. One white man gave me $10 once for
playin' at a dance. Played lots of the old-time pieces like 'Turkey in
the Straw', 'Dixie', and so on.
"We owns our home here, and I has another one. Been married twice and
raised eighteen chillun. Yes suh, we've lived here eighteen years, and
had fine health till last few years, but my health is sorter po'ly
now. Got a swellin' in my laigs.
"(Chuckling) I sure remembers lots of happy occasions down here in
days before the War. One day the steamboat come up to the landin'. It
was named the Maumelle--yes suh, Maumelle, and lots of hosses and
cattle was unloaded from the steamer. Sure was busy days then. And our
old mas'r was mighty kind to us."
NOTE: "Uncle Bill" did not know how he came about the name "Little."
Perhaps it was a nickname bestowed upon him to distinguish him from
some other William of larger stature. However, he stands fully six
feet in height, and has a strong, vigorous voice. He is the sole
surveying ex-slave of the Galla Rock community.
Interviewer: Thomas Elmore Lucy
Person interviewed: "Aunt Minerva" Lofton
Russellville, Arkansas
Age: 69
"Come in! Yes, my name's Minerva Lofton--at least it was yistiddy.
Now, whatcha gonna ask me? Hope you ain't saying something that'll git
me in bad. Don't want to git in any more trouble. Hard times' bad
enough.
"I was born in the country nine miles from Clarendon, Monroe County,
December 3, 1869. Father died before I was born. My mother came from
Virginia, and her mistress' name was Bettie Clark. They lived close to
Richmond, and people used to say 'Blue Ridge,' so I think it was Blue
Ridge County, Virginia. Mother was sold to Henry
Cargile--C-a-r-g-i-l-e.
"When they were expecting peace to be declared soon a lot of the
colored people named Parks took many of the slaves to Texas to escape
from the Yankees, but when they got to Corpus Christi they found the
Yankee soldiers there just the same, so they came back to Arkansas. I
sure used to laugh at my dear old mother when she'd tell about the
long trip to Corpus Christi, and things that happened on the way. They
stopped over at Camden as they went through, and one of the colored
gals who hated her played a prank on her to take out her spite on
mother: They had stopped at a dairyman's home near Camden, and she
sent my mother in to get a gallon of buttermilk. After drinking all
she could hold she grabbed mother by the hair of the head and churned
her up and down in the buttermilk till it streamed down her face, and
on her clothes--a sight to behold. I laughed and laughed until my
sides ached when mother told me about this.
"Old mistis' name (that is, one of the old mistis') was Bettie Young,
and my mother was named Bettie for her; she was a namesake--sort of a
wedding present, I think.
"I've been a member of the Pentecostal church for nineteen years.
"No sir, I never have voted and never expect to. Why? Because I have a
religious opinion about votin'. I think a woman should not vote; her
place is in the home raising her family and attending to the household
duties. We have raised only two boys (stepchildren)--had no children
of our own--but I have decided ideas about women runnin' around among
and votin'. When I see em settin' around the ballot box at the polls,
sometimes with a cigarette in their mouths, and again slingin' out a
'damn' or two, I want to slap em good and hard.
"Yes, the old time religious songs--I sure remember some of them! Used
to be able to sing lots of em, but have forgotten the words of many.
Let's see:
'I'm a-goin' to tell my Lord, Daniel in de lion's den;
I'm a-goin' to tell my Lord, I'm a-goin' to tell my Lord,
Daniel in de lion's den.'
Here's another:
'Big bells a-ringin' in de army of de Lord;
Big bells a-ringin' in de army.
I'm so glad I'm in de army of de Lord;
My soul's a-shoutin' in de army.'
"Modern youth? Humph! I think they are just a fulfilling of what
Christ said: 'They shall grow wiser as they grow older, but weaker.'
Where is it in the Scripture? Wait a minute and I'll look it up. Now,
let's see--where was that passage? It says 'weaker' here and 'weaken'.
Never mind--wait--I'll find it. Well, anyway, I don't know jest how to
describe this generation. I heard a white woman once say that she had
to do a little cussin' to make herself understood. 'Cussin'?' Why,
'cussin'' is jist a polite word for it.
"Good-bye, mister. You oughta thank the Lawd you've got a job!"