"There was another woman my master owned. Her husband belonged to
another white man. My father also belonged to another white man. Both
of them would come and stay with their wives at night and go back to
work with their masters during the day. My mother had her kin folks
who lived down in the country and my mother used to go out and visit
them. I had a grandmother way out in the country. My mother used to
take me and go out and stay a day or so. She would arrange with
mistress and master and go down Saturday and she would take me along
and leave her other children with this other woman. Sunday night she
would make it back. Sometimes she wouldn't come back until Monday.
"It didn't look like she was any freer after freedom than she was
before. She was free all the time she was a slave. They never whipped
her. Asa Brown never whipped his niggers.