ad
passes and they would stop them when they would be going out for
anything. They would stop my mother when she would be going out to get
the cows to see if she had a pass."

Jayhawkers

"I never heard my mother speak of jayhawkers, but I have heard her say
that they used to catch the slaves when they were out. I don't know
whether it was jayhawkers or not. I don't know what they done with them
after they caught them. I have heard other people speak of jayhawkers.
My people were very good to us. They never bothered my mother. She could
go and come when she pleased and they would give her a pass any time she
told them she wanted one."

Really Scared to Death

"I know one thing my ma told me. When the soldiers came through, there
was an old rebel eating breakfast at our place. He was a man that used
to handcuff slaves and carry them off and sell them. He must have stolen
them. When he heard that the Yankees were marching into town with all
them bayonets shining, it scared him to death. He sat right there at the
breakfast table and died. I don't know his name, but he lived in
Tennessee."

Mother's Work

"My mother was a cook and she knitted. She molded candles and milked the
cows, and washed and ironed. She and her children were the only slaves
they owned. They never whipped my mother at all. I stayed in the house.
They kept me there. I never had to do anything but keep the flies off
the table when they were eating."

Schooling

"My grandfather gave me my schooling after I came here. I had come here
in 1869. I went to school in Capitol Hill and Union Schools. Mrs.
Hoover (white) was one of the teachers at Union School when I was there.
She was a good teacher. Miss Lottie Andrews--she is a Stephens now--was
another one of my teachers."

How Freedom Came

"My master came right on the back porch and called my mother out and
told her she was free, that he wasn't going in no war. That was at the
beginning when they were mustering in the soldiers to fight the War. And
he didn't go neither. She stayed with him till after emancipation. She
was as free as she could be and he treated her as nice as anybody could
be treated. She had the keys to everything."

House, Furniture, and Food

"My mother had a little house back in the yard joined to the back porch
and connected with the kitchen. It had one room. She did all cooking in
his kitchen. Her room was just a bedroom.

"The furniture was a bed with hig