for us to use when us got big enough. A few Niggers
managed somehow to buy a little land. I couldn't rightly say when de
school was set up.

"Me and Carrie Rucker, us ain't been married long. I thinks big weddin's
is a foolish waste of time and money. Yessum, I'm moughty proud of all
of Carrie's grandchillun and I'm fond of evvyone of dem 24
great-grandchillun of hers.

"Well, it was a God-sent method Mr. Lincoln used to give us our freedom.
Mr. Davis didn't want no war, and he 'posed it all he knowed how, but if
he hadn't a gone ahead and fit, dere never would have been nothin' done
for us. Far as I knows, Booker Washin'ton done some good things in his
day and time, but I don't know much 'bout him.

"In a way, I'm satisfied wid what confronts me. A pusson in jail or on
de chaingang would ruther be outside and free dan in captivity. Dat's
how I feels.

"When dey read dis passage of de Bible to me, I 'cided to jine up wid de
church. 'Come ye out f'um amongst dem, and ye shall be my people.' I
think evvybody ought to read dat verse, jine de church, and den live
'ligious lifes. I done been changed f'um darkness to light. 'Oh, for a
closer walk wid God.'

"Yes Ma'am, Miss, I done been here a long time I done seed many come
and go. Lots of changes has tuk place. I done told you 'bout f'um de
cradle to de grave, and I enjoyed doin' it. All dat ricollectin' sho'
tuk me back over many a rocky road, but dem was de days what ain't never
gwine to be no more."

Person Interviewed: ANNIE HUFF, EX-SLAVE,
of near Macon, Georgia
Jul 28 1937

A large windmill beside the highway, on the Houston Road near Seven
Bridges, draws the attention of a traveler to a two-story house,
recently remodeled, which was the colonial home of Mr. Travis Huff, now
occupied by Mrs. Rosa Melton, his grand-daughter. During the days of
slavery the master and an indulgent mistress with their twelve slaves
lived on this property. Mr. Huff's family was a large one, all of whom
were well educated and very religious. Several of his daughters became
teachers after the close of the Civil War.

Among the "quarter" families were Annie Huff and her daughters, Mary
being the elder. The mother cooked and the small children learned to
sweep the yard and to do minor jobs in the field at a very early age. At
the age of twelve, the girls were taught to card and spin as well as to
knit and were required to do a certain task each d