"People tells me not to tell nothing 'bout myself to folks like you what asks me, 'cause you ain't going to give me nothing for it nohow, but somebody somewhere pays you to gather up this stuff. So I's just gonna tell you dis much, sister. Sure 'nough I was slave born. 'Fore I was big enough to do nothing us chillun used to run about in de woods while de old folks was working on de plantation. We git stole away by white folks what wasn't our owners and sold I reckon, nobody knowed where de chillun gone nor who got 'em. We know dis much, we didn't never see 'em any more.
"We just be out in de woods picking fruit and flowers. I know this though, sister, after while, de Rebels got a heap of us. I heard 'em say dey some times get fifty dollars for some of de black folks dey sold and some big healthy ones brought one-hundred dollars. Course I don't know how much money dey brought, I just know 'bout it. We use to go to de church house. If we suited de overseer he let us go. If we didn't we got lashed plenty. Dey lash you till you was forced to pray den dey whip you like anything for prayin'. But God done stopped all that now. Dis heah old Abe Lincoln come through our town. I guess you done heard 'bout him, is you, honey? If you ain't, I'll tell you. He just come 'round to see how de Rebs do de slaves. I gets so full thinkin' how de good Lawd fix it for us. He come 'round when nobody's lookin' for him. Bye and bye he says, fight for your freedom in de Yankee army instead of standing 'round here being sold and treated like beasts.
"Ole Jeff Davis was a Rebel and he rode a fine horse. Abe Lincoln come there, wid a mule. De slaves made up a song 'bout how old Abe Lincoln got hold of Jeff Davis in de army and Abe Lincoln took and rode Jeff Davis' big fine horse and Jeff Davis had to ride de mule. Abe Lincoln was United States president and Jeff Davis was de fool. We often hear tell of dem Yankees coming to our town a long time 'fore dey get there. We know when dey reached us, 'cause dey run dem Rebs way from their own place and take 'em themselves. I been all down in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and everywhere, being hiked around by dem Valentines, dat's de name of my mother's owners and mine too, for that. I 'haved so I didn't git licked like some more did, yes indeed I did. De bells would ring for day, sissy, and we had to get up and start right in working, yes mam. I use to love to see 'em drill dem soldiers. Sure did. I thank God it is all over now. I ain't going to tell you no more. Like to have you stay awhile, but if you want just come back."
[Louis Hamilton]
Interview with Louis Hamilton,
Fredericktown, Missouri.
Never Sold His Vote
"I is 90 years old and was born right dere in Whittenburg, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, across de creek. We was stayin' with Greenvilles den. My father was named Nathan and my mother was Mary. She died right after de war was over. My grandmother was born in West Virginia and I had three brothers and three sisters. Dey is all dead but me. My father drove an old ox team around dere hauling coal. He fought in de war and come back and went right to work and den bought him a farm back of Whittenburg and lived dere until he died.
"De first work I done was on de farm. Den I worked at Mine la Motte, and Buck Eye. Was a tie inspector and also worked in de car shop at Madison, Illinois. On de farm I got $1 a day. In de mines I got $12 a week. In de car shop I made about 40 cents a hour. I bought dis property here with my money and have been on it for 18 years. I give $450 for dis property. I've paid $11 taxes for eight or nine years and now pay $5 a year. De master had a big farm of two or three hundred acres and had four or five slaves. Sometimes my father would take me down dere in de woods to a white picnic. After my father's first wife died he did not let us run around much. We used to fight with de white kids but had no trouble with de old folks. At Christmas time, man dey treated us with fun; eats of all kinds, dat you could pack home.
"When de war was over we moved across de creek to ourselves and my father bought 25 or 30 acres. I felt like a new man when de war was over. I stayed with my grandfather until I was 21 and got married in Perry County when I was 32. I had 4 children and dey is all dead. My wife has been dead about 14 years. I've lived 25 years in Fredericktown. De young Negroes ain't no account as compared to when I was a boy. De parents nowadays don't make dem work hard enough. Dey can sleep all day if dey want to. Some of de young Negroes around here work in de shoe factory. Some load ties.
"Once when I was a baby, my sister was sitting by de fireplace rocking me and she fell asleep and let me fall in de fireplace and I was burned on de hand. Four of my fingers was burned and have never come out straight. When I was a boy I did not know what a stove looked like. We had dese old corded beds. Dere used to be a lot of wild hogs around dere and dey would eat anything dey got hold of. We would put up ice from de Mississippi River. It was over a foot thick. We wore home-made clothes and did not buy no clothes. We wore copper-toed shoes called brogans. De first time I voted was for Teddy Roosevelt. I been voting ever since. Lots of dem have told me how to vote but I never sold my vote."