"Might as well tell the truth—had just as good a time when I was a slave as when I was free. Had all the hog meat and milk and everything else to eat.
"I member one time when old master wasn't at home the Yankees come and say to old mistress, 'Madam, we is foragin'.' Old mistress say, 'My husband ain't home; I can't let you.' Yankees say, 'Well, we're goin' to anyway.' They say, 'Where you keep your milk and butter?' Old mistress standin' up there, her face as red as blood and say, 'I haven't any milk or butter to spare.' But the Yankees would hunt till they found it.
"After a battle when the dead soldiers was layin' around and didn't have on no uniform cause some of the other soldiers took em, I've heard the old folk what knowed say you could tell the Yankees from the Rebels cause the Yankees had blue veins on their bellies and the Rebels didn't.
"Now you want me to tell you bout this young nigger generation? I never thought I'd live to see this young generation come out and do as well as they is doin'. I'm goin' tell you the truth. When I was young, boys and girls used to wear long white shirt come down to their ankles, cause it would shrink, with a hole cut out for their head. I think they is doin' a whole lot better. Got better clothes. Almost look as well as the white folks. I just say the niggers dressin' better than the white folks used to.
"Then I see some niggers got automobiles. Just been free bout seventy-two years and some of em actin' just like white folks now.
"Well, good-bye—if I don't see you again I'll meet you in Heaven."
Interviewer: Beulah Sherwood Hagg
Person interviewed: [HW: Henry Kirk] H.K. Miller
1513 State Street, Little Rock, Arkansas
Age: 86
"No ma'am, it will not bother me one bit if you want to have a long visit with me.... Yes, I was a little busy, but it can wait. I was getting my dishes ready for a party tomorrow night.