I sure does
remember dem dates. (laughed)
"Yes'm, I was nursin' for Dr. Rothrock when that Ku Klux scare was all
bout. They coma to our house huntin' a boy. They didn't find him. I
cover up my head when they come bout our house. Some folks they scared
nearly to death. I bein' in a strange place don't know much bout what
all I heard they done.
"I don't vote. I don't know who to vote for, let people vote know how.
"I get bout $8 and some commodities. It sure do help me out too. I tell
you it sure do."
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed: Bell Williams, Forrest City, Arkansas
Age: 85
"We was owned by Master Rucker. It seems I was about ten years old when
the Civil War started. It seems like a dream to me now. Mother was a
weaver. They said she was a fine weaver. She wove for all on the place
and some special pieces of cloth for outsiders. She wove woolen cloth
too. I don't know whether they paid for the extra weaving or not. People
didn't look on money like they do now. They was free with one another
about eating and visiting and work too when a man got behind with the
work. The fields get gone in the grass. Sometimes they would be sick or
it rained too much. The neighbor would send all his slaves to work till
they caught up and never charge a cent.
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