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"Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Arkansas Narratives, Part 7"

Nobody ever bothered me about it.

Family
"There were six children in my mother's family. My father had six
brothers. He made the seventh. I had nine children in all. Four of them
are living now. One is here; one, in St. Louis; and two, in Chicago. My
boy is in Chicago.

Opinions
"The majority of the young people are just growing up. Lots of them are
not getting any raising at all."

Interviewer's Comment
Wise is between eighty-one and eighty-five years old. The data he gives
conflict, some of it indicating the earlier and some of it later years.
He doesn't talk much and has to be pumped. He doesn't lose the thread of
the discourse. His failure to talk on details of his early life seem to
the interviewer due to unwillingness rather than lack of memory. While
his age is advanced, his mind is sharp for one who has had such limited
training.
He has no definite means of support, but states that he has been
promised a pension in September--he means old age assistance.


Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed: Lucy Withers, Brinkley, Arkansas
Age: 86

I was born 5-1/2 miles from Abbeville, South Carolina, in sight of
Little Mountain. I do remember the Civil War. I never seen them fight.
They come to about twenty or thirty miles from where I lived.


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