"Some dat man's niggers allus runnin' 'way and dey sets de nigger dogs on dem and catch dem mos' times. Den dey treat 'em so bad dey wouldn't never want to run away no more.
"We allus gits Saturday evenin' off to wash our clothes and sometime we has dances Saturday night. I has two brothers, Jim and William and William git kilt in de war. My two sisters named Relia and Laura. We has corn shuckin's and big suppers and on Christmas our massa buys us de present, most times shoes, 'cause we didn't have any shoes.
"When de white folks dies or gits married everybody sho' carries on big. When we sick dey gives us snakeroot tea and cana and sage tea and if we's bad sick, dey gits de doctor. Missy, she make hog hoof tea, jes' bile de hoofs in good whiskey for de cold. Den she put camphor ball and asafoetida 'round our necks to keep off diseases.
"When de war ends we sees a white man comin' down de road on a hoss and de road full of niggers followin' him, singin' and shoutin' and prayin'. I stays with massa till he die, then I marries and has one chile and one grandchile, and I lives with her."
[Millie Williams]
Millie Williams, 86, lives at 1612 E. Fourth St., Fort Worth, Texas. She was born a slave to Joe Benford, in Tennessee, was sold to Bill Dunn, who brought her to Texas and traded her to Tommy Ellis for some land. She has lived in Fort Worth since the 1870's.
"I don't know when I was born, 'cause I was taken from my folks when I was a baby, but massa told me I was born in de spring of de year, in 1851. I know I been in dis world a long time, but I has have good white folks. I was born on Massa Benford's place in Tennessee and my mama's name was Martha Birdon. She say my pappy's name Milton Wade, but I never seed him. And I didn't know my mama a long time, 'cause she's sold away from Massa Benford's place, and I was sold with her, den he took me back, and I never seed my mama no mo'.
"After I was sold back to Massa Benford, he puts me in de nigger yard. Dat whar de massa kep' slaves what he traded. It was jus' a bunch of shacks throwed together and dirty was no name for it, it was worse than a pig pen. De man what watch over us in dat nigger yard was de meanest man what ever lived. He'd take a club and beat de daylight out of us, 'cause de club wouldn't leave scars like de bullwhip, and didn't bring de price down when we is sold.
"One day Massa Benford takes us to town and puts us on dat auction block and a man name Bill Dunn bought me. I was 'bout seven years old. Talkin' 'bout somethin' awful, you should have been dere. De slave owners was shoutin' and sellin' chillen to one man and de mama and pappy to 'nother. De slaves cries and takes on somethin' awful. If a woman had lots of chillen she was sold for mo', 'cause it a sign she a good breeder.
"Right after I was sold to Massa Dunn, dere was a big up-risin' in Tennessee and it was 'bout de Union, but I don't know what it was all about, but dey wanted Massa Dunn to take some kind of a oath, and he wouldn't do it and he had to leave Tennessee. He said dey would take de slaves 'way from him, so he brought me and Sallie Armstrong to Texas. Dere he trades us to Tommy Ellis for some land and dat Massa Ellis, he de best white man what ever lived. He was so good to us we was better off dan when we's free.