"I was born in Stoddard County, Missouri. My mother belonged to John Sitzes and my father belonged to Lark Abernathy. I can jes remember how afraid us chillun was of de soldiers. De boss had a big plantation and raised everything dey ate and wore. We had a cabin dat joined on to the house. My mother was jus' like a man and worked in de fiel' and made rails. My aunt wove. I picked up chips. My mother was the type dat they had to treat good. De master had eight children. There was a white school of three months. I did not go to school.
"After de war was over we all worked for twenty-five cents a day but didn't get paid in money but in food. Mother was sold twice, and my father was sold away from my mother. I don't 'member anything 'bout my father. I was 'bout four years old when de war ended. 'Bout all we did on Sunday was to dig ginseng and fish. One of de slaves would go out to a dance and get in in de mornin' and he would get a whippin'.
"After de war some Ku Klux come through our place and de white folks said they could tell who dey were by de walk. After de war was over de soldiers were going to take some of de colored women south, so we hid under de stairway. De soldiers fought to get de slaves to go and my mother had a scar on her shoulder dat dey made. De soldiers took some of de slaves south and sold them somewhar' and we never heard from them again.
"Black root was a purgative medicine as well as goose grease. For whooping-cough dey would use honey and alum.
"At Christmas we'd get candy or a new dress. On one Christmas old Christine or Santa Clause would wrap up in a blanket and this is how we got our presents. Down thar de hickory nuts grew big and it was a funny thing when we found out dat old Christine was giving us our own hickory nuts.
"I can't 'member 'bout any hoodoo business but once a Negro man borrowed a pair of boots from another man and when he returned them thar was a snake's tooth sticking up through de sole of one of de boots."
[Drucilla and Richard Martin]
An Interview with Drucilla Martin,
age 102, and Richard Martin,
age 92, Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
"I'se half Indian and I look it too, and if I wo' gold rings in my ears and nose I would look just like my mammy did 'cause she was full blooded Indian. I don' know what kind, but she was big and tall and had black hair, she could sit on it and it was as coa'se as a mule's tail. She carried a tom-hawk and eve'y one stepped to one side when they met her on the turn-pike. She wus from Giles County, Tennessee. Giles County, Hear Me! And her name was 'Eirar-Lu Ellen'. My father's name was Spencer Johnson, don't guess I seed much ob him 'cause mammy and him wasn't married.
"We stayed on, for Mars Pinter, (Mr. Pointer), from the time I 'member 'till the war closed, and we wus free; and you had better never let Mars hear you call us slaves. He'd not stand for it; hear me! We didn't farm, 'xactly; Mars Pinter owned the iron works and most of his people worked in there. Best I 'member we did raise our eats and that wus all 'cause the nearest trading post wus Nashville, Tennessee, and that wus a long way, them days.