on Satu'd'y night an' us don' see
much of 'im. Us call him 'dat man.' Mammy tol' us to be more 'spectful
to 'im 'cause he was us daddy, but us aint care nothin' 'bout 'im. He
aint never brung us no candy or nothin'.

"My mammy was name Lucy Berry. She always go by de white folks name what
she live wid. She aint never marry. She had fo' boys an' three girls.
Dey was name Delia, Sarah, Ella, Nathan, Isom, Anderson, an' Pleas. She
work in de fiel' an Old Marster say she's de only woman on de place what
could plow lak a man.

"I 'members my gran'ma, too. Us always call her 'Granny.' She say dey
stole her back in Virginny an' brung 'er to Mississippi an' sol' her to
Marse Berry. Her name was Hannah. She was my mammy's Mammy. I don'
'member nothin' 'bout my pappy's folks 'cause I never seen none of' em.

"Old Marster was a rich man for dat day. He had a sawmill, a cotton gin,
an' a gris' mill. Us always had plenty t'eat an' wear. Dey spun an'
weaved dey own cloth an' made us clo'es out-a it.

"I can jus' see de white folk's house now. It was a big house, nice an'
clean, but twant painted. It had a row o' rooms 'cross dis way an'
a-nother row dat way wid a hall between. Dey had plenty o' rooms for all
dem boys an' gals. Some of 'em was 'bout grown. De quarters[FN: slave
quarters] was in de back o' de house. De cook's house was closes' to de
Big House, den nex' was Granny's house where us stayed. Den come a long
row way down to de back fence.

"Dey didn' have no overseer or driver. Dey was 'nough o' dem boys to
look after de work an' Old Marster say he don' need no overseer to look
after his slaves.

"My white folks was all Baptis' an' dey made us go to church, too. De
church was called de Strong River Church. Dey had big baptisin's. I
'members when I joined de church. De white folks preacher baptised us in
de creek what run from Marse Berry's mill pond. I was dressed up in a
white lowell slip. When us dress' up in Sund'y clo'es us had caliker[FN:
calico] dresses. Dey sho' was pretty. I 'members a dress now dat Old
Marster bought for my granny. It was white an' yaller, an' it was de
prettiest thing I ever seen.

"Us white folks was good to us. Dey warnt always a-beatin' an'
a-knockin' us 'roun'. De truf is you couldn' fin' a scar on nary one o'
us. 'Course, some times dey whup us, but dey didn' gash us lak some o'
de old marsters did dey Niggers.

"When Old Marster died I didn' know nothin' bout him bein' sick. He too