"De happies' time o' my life wuz when Cap'n Tipton, a Yankee soljer cumed an' tol' us de wah wuz ober an' we wuz free. Cap'n. Tipton sez, "Youse de boys we dun dis foah". We shure didn't lose no time gittin' 'way; no man."
"We went to Lewisburg an' den up to Cha'leston by wagon an' den tuk de guvment boat, Genrul Crooks, an' it brung us heah to Gallipolis in 1865. Dat Ohio shoah shure looked prutty."
"I'se shure thankful to Mr. Lincoln foah whut he dun foah us folks, but dat Jeff Davis, well I ain't sayin' whut I'se thinkin'."
"De is jes' like de worl', der is lots o' good an' lots o' bad in it."
WPA in Ohio
Federal Writers' Project
Topic: Ex-Slavery
Jefferson Co, District #2
FLEMING CLARK
Ex-Slave, 74+ in years
My father's name wuz Fleming Clark and my mother's name wuz Emmaline Clark. Both of dem wuz in slavery. Der massa's name wuz David Bowers. I don't know where dey cum from but dey moved to Bad Creek after slavery days.
Der wuz three of us chillun. Charles, de oldest, den Anthony next and den me, de youngest. I wuz workin' for a white man and wuz old enough to drive cows and work in de 'bacco fields, pickin' worms off de leaves. De other brudders worked wid my father on another plantation. De house where I lived wid de white Massa Lewis Northsinge and his Missus, wuz a log house wid just two rooms. I had just a little straw tick and a cot dat de massa made himself and I hed a common quilt dat de missus made to cover me.
I hear dat my grandmother died during slavery and dat my grandfather wuz killed by his massa during slavery.