I jumped on top of one of them mules' back
before I knowed anything!

I married Sarah Richardson, February 10, 1870, and had only eleven
children. One son is a deacon and one grandson is a preacher. I am a
good Baptist. Before I was married I said to the gal's old man, "I'll
go to the mourners bench if you'll let me have Sal," and sure nuff I
joined up just a month after I got her. I am head of the Sunday School
and deacon in the St. Paul Baptist church in Muskogee now.

I lived about five miles from Van Buren until about twelve years ago
when they found oil and then they run all the negroes out and leased
up the land. They never did treat the negroes good around there
anyways.

I never had a hard time as a slave, but I'm glad we was set free.
Sometimes we can't figger out the best thing to do, but anyways we can
lead our own life now, and I'm glad the young ones can learn and get
somewhere these days.

Oklahoma Writers' Project
Ex-Slaves
[Date stamp: NOV 5 1937]

BEN LAWSON
Age 84 yrs.
Oklahoma City, Okla.

I was born in Danville, Illinois. De best I can get at my age I is 84
years old. My father dey tell me was name Dennis Lawson and died
before I was born. My mother's name was Ann Lawson, who I saw once. I
was given by her to my Mistress, Mrs. Jane Brazier, when a kid and she
was too. My mother raised me, she and her son to manhood. I got no
brothers or sisters to my knowledge. I was de only slave dey had and
dey raised me to be humble and fear dem as a slave and servant. As I
was de only slave I slept in de same room wid my Mistress and her son
who was grown, her husband and father being dead.

I worked on the farm doing general farm work, hoeing, plowing,
harvesting the crop of wheat, corn, barley, oats, rice, peas, etc. To
make and harvest the crops dey would hire poor white help and as dey
was grown and I was a lad, dey kept me in a strain in order to keep up
wid dem for if I didn't it was just too bad for my back. So's dere
would be work for me to do during the bad days of winter dey built a
pen under a shed and dey would lay a cloth on de ground covering the
ground in the pen and wid small mesh wire on top of de pen on which de
wheat was laid and wid a wooden maul I would pounder out wheat all day
long, even though dey could have thrashed it as dey did de biggest
part of it.

At meal time dey would give me what was left of de scraps off dey
table in a plate, which I would eat most de time