“I was seventy-four this last past fourth of July. I was born in Texas. My mother was sent to Texas to keep from bein’ freed.
“Ad March and Spruce McCrary is the onliest white folks I remember bein’ with. I don’t know whether they was our owners or not.
“My father was sent to North Carolina and I never did see him no more.
“After freedom they brought us back here from Texas and we worked on the McCrary plantation.
“In slavery days mama said she and my father stayed in the woods most of the time. That’s when they was whippin’ ’em.
“My mother come from Richmond, Virginia. Petersburg was her town. She belonged to the Wellses over there.
“After her master got his leg broke, the rest was so mean to her she run off a couple times, so they sold her. Put her up on the tradin’ block—like goin’ to make a speech. Stripped ’em naked. The man bid ’em off like you’d bid off oxen.
“Mama told me her missis, after her husband died, got so mean to her she run off till her old missis sold her. They weighed ’em and stripped ’em naked to see if they was anything wrong with ’em and how they was built and then bid ’em off.
“Mama said she never would a been in Arkansas if they hadn’t been so mean to her. They were too compulsive on ’em—you know, hard taskmasters.
“After freedom Ad March went back to North Carolina and Spruce McCrary come here to Pine Bluff.