]. He
had two sons who served as bosses on the farm. An elder sister was the
head boss. After the war was over, the sister called the colored people
together and told them that they were no longer slaves, that they might
leave if they wished.

"The slaves had been watering cucumbers which had been planted around
barrels filled with soil. Holes had been bored in the barrels, and when
water was poured in the barrels, it gradually seeped out through the
holes thus watering the cucumbers.

"After the speech, one son told the slaves to resume their work. Since I
was free, I refused to do so, and as a result, I received a terrible
kicking. I mentally resolved to get even some day. Years afterward, I
went to the home of this man for the express purpose of seeking revenge.
However, I was received so kindly, and treated so well, that all
thoughts of vengeance vanished. For years after, my former boss and I
visited each other in our own homes."

Mr. Edmunds states that the Negro people prefer to be referred to as
colored people, and deeply resent the name "nigger."

Archie Koritz, Field Worker
Federal Writers' Project
Lake County--District #1
Gary, Indiana

EX-SLAVES
JOHN EUBANKS & FAMILY
Gary, Indiana

Gary's only surviving Civil War veteran was born a slave in Barren
County, Kentucky, June 6, 1836. His father was a mulatto and a free
negro. His mother was a slave on the Everrett plantation and his
grandparents ware full-blooded African negroes. As a child he began work
as soon as possible and was put to work hoeing and picking cotton and
any other odd jobs that would keep him busy. He was one of a family of
several children, and is the sole survivor, a brother living in
Indianapolis, having died there in 1935.

Following the custom of the south, when the children of the Everrett
family grew up, they married and slaves were given them for wedding
presents. John was given to a daughter who married a man of the name of
Eubanks, hence his name, John Eubanks. John was one of the more
fortunate slaves in that his mistress and master were kind and they were
in a state divided on the question of slavery. They favored the north.
The rest of the children were given to other members of the Everrett
family upon their marriage or sold down the river and never saw one
another until after the close of the Civil War.

Shortly after the beginning of the Civil War, when the north seemed to
be losing, someone conceived the i