orn in Wilcox County, Alabama, in 1850. W.J. Snow was my old
marster. He bought my ma from a man named Jerry Casey. Venus was her
name, but dey mos'ly called her 'Venie.'

"I's workin' now for one o' my old folks. I can't work much--jus'
carries things to 'er an' such. She's my old mistis' own daughter an'
she's got gran'chillun grown an' married. All de chillun dat's livin' is
older'n me.

"When her pa bought my mammy, I was a baby. Her pa owned a heap o'
Niggers. I's de only one still hangin' aroun'.

"My ma was a black African an' she sho' was wild an' mean. She was so
mean to me I couldn' b'lieve she was my mammy. Dey couldn' whup her
widout tyin' her up firs'. Sometimes my marster would wait 'til de nex'
day to git somebody to he'p tie her up, den he'd forgit to whup 'er. Dey
used to say she was a cunger an' dey was all scared of 'er. But my ma
was scared o' cungers, too.

"All de Niggers on de place was born in de fam'ly an' was kin, 'cept my
ma. She tol' me how dey brought her from Africa. You know, like we say
'President' in dis country, well dey call him 'Chief' in Africa. Seem
like de Chief made 'rangements wid some men an' dey had a big goober
grabbin' for de young folks. Dey stole my ma an' some more an' brung 'em
to dis country.

"I don't 'member nothin' 'bout havin' no pa. You know, honey, in dem
days husbands an' wives didn' b'long to de same folks. My ma say her
husband was so mean dat after us lef' Alabama she didn' want to marry no
more.

"A man didn' git to see his wife 'cept twict a week. Dat was Wednesday
an' Satu'd'y night.

"De women had to walk a chalk line. I never hear'd tell o' wives runnin'
'roun' wid other men in dem days.

"I was raised in Jasper County. Marster bought lan' from ever'body
'roun' 'til he had a big plantation. He had Niggers, horses, mules,
cows, hogs, an' chickens. He was a rich man, den.

"Ever' Nigger had a house o' his own. My ma never would have no board
floor like de res' of' em, on' count she was a African--only dirt. (Dey
say she was 108 year old when she died.)

"Us went to church wid de white folks if us wanted to. Dey didn' make
us. I didn' go much, 'cause I didn' have 'ligion, den. Us didn' have no
schoolin'. Us could go to school wid de white chillun if us wanted to,
but didn' nobody teach us. I's educated, but I aint educated in de
books. I's educated by de licks an' bumps I got.

"My white folks was good people an' didn' whup nobody, 'less dey nee