"I farmed nearly all my life. I worked on a steamboat on White River five or six years—The Ralph.
"I never saw a Ku Klux. Mr. Williams kept us well protected.
"My mother's mother couldn't talk plain. My mother talked tolerably plain. She was a 'Molly Glaspy' woman. My father had a loud heavy voice; you could hear him a long ways off.
"I have no home. I am a widower. I have no land. I get a small check and commodities.
"I vote. I haven't voted in a long time. I'm not educated to know how that would serve us best."
Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor
Person interviewed: Columbus Williams
Temporary: 2422 Howard Street, Little Rock, Arkansas
Permanent: Box 12, Route 2, Ouachita County, Stevens, Arkansas
Age: 98
"I was born in Union County, Arkansas, in 1841, in Mount Holly.
"My mother was named Clora Tookes. My father's name is Jordan Tookes. Bishop Tookes is supposed to be a distant relative of ours. I don't know my mother and father's folks. My mother and father were both born in Georgia. They had eight children. All of them are dead now but me. I am the only one left.