I wish I did
know.
"I ain't been on the PWA. I don't git no help ceptin' when I can work a
little for myself."
Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor
Person interviewed: John Williams
County Hospital, ward 11, Little Rock, Arkansas
Age: 75
"I was born in 1863 in Texas right in the city of Dallas right in the
heart of the town. After the War our owners brought us back to Little
Rock. That is where they left from. They left here on account of the
War. They run off their slaves to keep the Yankees from freeing them.
All the old masters were dead. But the young ones were Louis Fletcher,
John Fletcher, Dick Fletcher, Jeff Fletcher, and Len Fletcher. Five
brothers of them. Their home was here in Little Rock. The War was going
on. It went on four years and prior to the end of it I was born.
"My mother's name was Mary Williams. My father's name was John Williams.
I was named after him.
"It is funny how they changed their names. Now, his name was John Scott
before he went into the army. But after he went in, they changed his
name into John Williams.
"His master's name was Scott but I don't know the other part of it. All
five of the brothers was named for their mother's masters. She raised
them. She always called all of them master. 'Cordin' to what I hear from
the old folks, when one of them come 'round, you better call him master.
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