oung and old.

The first thing he said was, "You men and women is all free! I'm going
back to my own mammy in old Virginia, but I ain't going back until all
de old people is settled in cabins and de young folks fix up wid
tents!"

Den he kinder stopped talking. Seem now like he was too excited to
talk, or maybe he was feeling bad and worried 'bout what he going to
do wid all of us. Pretty soon he said, "You men and women, can't none
of you tell anybody I ain't always been a good master. Old folks, have
I ever treated you mean?" He asked. Everybody shout, "No, sir!" And
Master Frank smiled; den he told us he was going 'round and find
places for us to live.

He went to see Jim Tinsley, who owned some slaves, about keeping us.
Tinsley said he had cabins and could fix up tents for extra ones, if
his own Negroes was willing to share up with us. Dat was the way it
worked out. We stayed on dere for a while, but times was so hard we
finally get dirty and ragged like all de Tinsley Negroes. But Master
Frank figure he done the best he could for us.

After he go back to Virginia we never hear no more of him, but every
day I still pray if he has any folks in Richmond dey will find me
someway before I die. Is dere someway I could find dem, you s'pose?

Oklahoma Writers' Project
Ex-Slaves
[Date Stamp: Aug 12 1937]

LOU SMITH
Age 83 yrs.
Platter, Okla.

Sho', I remembers de slavery days! I was a little gal but I can tell
you lots of things about dem days. My job was nussing de younguns. I
took keer of them from daylight to dark. I'd have to sing them to
sleep too. I'd sing:

"By-lo Baby Bunting
Daddy's gone a-hunting
To get a rabbit skin
To wrap Baby Bunting in."

Sometimes I'd sing:

"Rock-a-bye baby, in a tree top
When de wind blows your cradle'll rock.
When de bough breaks de crad'll fall
Down comes baby cradle'n all."

My father was Jackson Longacre and he was born in Mississippi. My
mother, Caroline, was born in South Carolina. Both of them was born
slaves. My father belonged to Huriah Longacre. He had a big plantation
and lots of niggers. He put up a lot of his slaves as security on a
debt and he took sick and died so they put them all on de block and
sold them. My father and his mother (my grandma) was sold together. My
old Mistress bought my grandmother and old Mistress' sister bought my
grandma's sister. These white women agreed that they would never go
off so far