do anything else. I take Marse Frank's 'backer an' hide it in
de Missus' trunk. Den when de sojers git what dey want dey laugh and
ma'ch 'way on de hill.

"After de surren'er all de niggahs jes lost. Nowhar to go, nothin' to
do, 'less dey stay wif de massa. Nobuddy hab anything but 'federate
money and it no good. My pappy had 'bout three hunner dolla's but
'twarn't no good 'tall.

"All some of de white fokes think of war killin' de pore niggahs what
worked for dem for yeahs. Dey jes scour de country and shoot dem,
'specially de young men. One day dey come down de road to'ards my
pappy. Dey start askin' questions 'bout what he gwine to do now he
free. 'What I gwin to do?' says pappy. 'What can I do? I jes stay on de
plantation an' help ol' Massa iffen I can get an ol' mule an' a piece
of an ol' plow.'

"One of de boys look at pappy an' say: 'I like take yo' head for a
target,' but de ol' man wif dem say no so dey leave my pappy 'lone. Dey
hab de commissary whar de fokes git food; it b'long to de Yankee
sojers. Food scarce lik' ebberthing. Folks say now dey hab hard times;
dey don' know nothin' 'bout hard times less day lib in war time and be
slave to white fokes.

"Den dey was de Ku Klux Klan. Dey war frightful lookin' critters. My
pappy say dey go out in de country an' tie pore niggahs to de tree and
beat 'em to death. Dey dress all kin's of fashions. Most of dem look
like ghosts. Dey nebber go lik' de paddyrollers, dey jes sneak 'round
at night when de poor niggahs in bed. Den 'bout twelve 'clock dey tie
up all de niggahs dey ketch and atter dey through beatin' dem dey
leaves dem wif dey han's tied in de air and de blood astreamin' outten
dey backs.

"Atter freedeom I come heah to live wif my fokes de Williams's, dats
how I come to be Williams. Nebber had no chillun of my own. Dey calls
me 'Lizbeth Johnson 'fore I went to live with de Mixons, den I be one
of de Mixon niggahs, den later I be a Williams; don' guess names matter
much no way."

N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: Mary A. Hicks
No. Words: 801
Subject: PENNY WILLIAMS
Story teller: Penny Williams
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt

PENNY WILLIAMS
Ex-Slave Story

An interview with Penny Williams 76, of 716 S. East Street, Raleigh,
N.C.

"I wus borned at de Hinton place 'bout three miles south of Raleigh,
an' course we 'longed ter Mr. Lawrence Hinton.

"My mammy wus named Harriet Moore an' my pappy wu