' He'd say, 'Well, I want to learn her to work. I ain't
gwine be here always and I want her to know how to work.'
"They had me throwin' the shickles (shuttles) in slavery times. I used
to handle the cyards (cards) too. Then I used to help clean up the milk
dairy. I'd be so tired I wouldn't know what to do. Old missis would say,
'Well, Hannah, that's your job.'
"We used to have plenty to eat, pies and cakes and custards. More than
we got now.
"I own this place if I can keep payin' the taxes.
"Old missis used to say, 'You gwine think about what I'm tellin' you
after I'm dead and gone.'
"Young folks call us old church folks 'old _ism_ folks,' 'old fogies.'
They say, 'You was born in slavery times, you don't know nothin.' You
can't tell 'em nothin'.
"I follows my mind. You ain't gwine go wrong if you does what your mind
tells you."
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed: Tom Yates, Marianna. Arkansas
Age: 66
"I was born in 1872 in Mississippi, on Moon Lake. Mama said she was
orphan. She was sold when she was a young woman. She said she come from
Richmond, Virginia to Charleston, South Carolina. Then she was brought
to Mississippi and married before freedom. She had two husbands. Her
owners was Master Atwood and Master Curtis Burk.
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