four children of her
auntie's. Later on, way after the war, there was a lawsuit. I was grown
then. The courts made him pay the white children their share as far as
he was able. Of course, the colored children got nothing because they
were slaves when he took them.

"I don't know nothing about the Ku Klux Klan bothering my family. I
don't remember anything except that I hear them talking about the Ku
Klux and the Pateroles. I wasn't here.

"Don't put me down as an ex-slave. I am not an ex-slave. I was born
after the war. I don't know nothing about slavery except what I heard
others say. I expect I have talked too much anyway."

Extra Comment

The constant reiteration of the phrase, "I'm not an ex-slave" roused my
curiosity and drove me to a superficial investigation. Persons who are
acquainted with her and her family estimate that Mary Watson is nearer
eighty than seventy. She started her story pleasantly enough. But when
she got the obsession that she would be put down as an ex-slave, she
refused to tell more.

There is one thing not to be overlooked. Mary Watson has a mind that is
still keen. She tells what she wants to tell, and she doesn't state a
thing that she does not want to state. The hidden facts are to be
discerned only by subtle inference. This trait interested me, for her
younger brother, mentioned in the story, is a distinguished character,
President of Rust College, Holly Springs, Mississippi, and known to be
experienced and efficient in his work. Whatever she may have reserved or
stated, in reading her story, we are reading at least a sidelight on a
family of which some of the members have done some fine work within the
race.

Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed: Bart Wayne, Helena, Arkansas
Age: 72

"I was born at Holly Springs in 1866. It was in the springtime. Ma said
I was born two years after the surrender. Ma was named Mary and pa
Dan--Dan Wayne. They never was sold. In 1912 Dr. Leard was living in a
big fine house at Sardia, Mississippi. He was our last owner. Mallard
Jones owned them too. Pa didn't have no name. He was called for his
owners. I don't know if he named hisself Dan Wayne or not. The way I
think it was, Mr. Jones give Dr. Leard's wife them. He give her a big
plantation. I knowed Dr. Leard my own self all my life. I'd go to see
him.

"The present times is hard. I get ten dollars a month. I don't know what
to say about folks now--none of them."