e matter with Diana?' And they
came over to see what was happening. And she said, 'I got a letter from
my boy that was sold from me when he was a nursing baby.' She had me
write a letter to him. I did all her writing for her and he came to see
her. I didn't get to see him. I was away when he come. She said she was
willing to die that the Lord let her live to see her baby again and had
taken care of him through all these years.

"My father's name was Peter Warren and my mother was named Adelaide
Warren. Before she was married she went by her owner's name, Hickman. My
daddy belonged to the Phillips but he didn't go in their name. He went
in the Warren's name. He did that because he liked them. Phillips was
his real father, but he sold him to the Warrens and he took their name
and kept it. They treated him nice and he just stayed on in their name.
He didn't marry till after both of them were free. He met her somewheres
away from the Hickman's. They married in Alabama.

"Mama was born and mostly reared in Virginia and then come to Alabama.
That's where I was born, in Alabama. And they left there and came here.
I was four years old when they come here.

"I never did hear what my father did in slavery time. He was a twin. The
most he took notice of he said was his brother and him settin' on an old
three-legged stool. And his mother had left some soft soap on the fire.
His brother saw that the pot was goin' to turn over and he jumped up. My
father tried to get up too but the stool turned over and caught him,
caught his little dress and held him and the hot soap ran over his dress
and on to his bare skin. It left a big burn on his side long as he
lived. His mother was there close to the house because she knowed the
soap was on and those two little boys were in there. She heard him
crying and ran in and carried him to her master. He got the doctor and
saved him. My father's mother didn't do nothing after that but 'tend to
that baby. Her master loved those little boys and kept her and _didn't
sell her because of them_. (The underscoring is the interviewer's--ed.)
That was his last master--Warren. Warren loved him more than his real
father did. Warren said he knew my father would never live after he had
such a burn. But he did live. They never did let him do much work after
the accident.

"I think my father's master, Warren--I can't remember his first
name--farmed for a living.

"My father and mother had five children. I don'