"I been doin' whatever come to hand—farmin', cookin', washin', ironin'.
"I never expects to vote neither. I sure ain't voted.
"Conditions pretty bad sometimes. I don't know what cause it. You got beyond me now. I don't know what going become of the young folks, and they ain't studyin' it. They ain't kind. Got no raisin' I call it. I tried to raise em to work and behave. They work some. My son is takin' care of me now."
Interviewer: Mrs. Bernice Bowden
Person interviewed: Caroline Matthews
812 Spruce Street, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Age: 79
"Yes'm, I was born in slavery times in Mississippi. Now, the only thing I remember was some soldiers come along on some mules. I remember my mother and father was sittin' on the gallery and they say, 'Look a there, them's soldiers.'
"And I remember when my parents run off. I was with 'em and I cried for 'em to tote me.
"My mother's first owner was named Armstrong. She said she was about eleven years old when he bought her. I heard her say they just changed around a lot.
"Freedom was comin' and her last owners had carried her to a state where it hadn't come yet. That's right—it was Texas.