"There were good masters and mean masters. Both of my old grandfathers
had good masters. I had an uncle, Anderson Fields, who had a tough
master. He was so tough that Uncle Anderson had to run away. They'd whip
him and do around, and he would run away. Then they would get the dogs
after him and they would run him until he would climb a tree to get away
from them. They would come and surround the tree and make him come down
and they would whip him till the blood ran, and sometimes they would
make the dogs bite him and he couldn't do nothing about it. One time he
bit a dog's foot off. They asked him why he did that and he said the dog
bit him and he bit him back. They whipped him again. They would take him
home at night and put what they called the ball and chain on him and
some of the others they called unruly to keep them from running away.
"They didn't whip my grandfathers. Just one time they whipped
Grandfather Joe. That was because he wouldn't give his consent for them
to whip his wife. He wouldn't stand for it and they strapped him. He
told them to strap him and leave her be. He was a good worker and they
didn't want to kill him, so they strapped him and let her be like he
said."