SLAVE NARRATIVES - Library of Congress

"I seen a whole gang of Ku KLuxes heap of times when I was little
back in Georgia* I seed paddyrollers and then they quit and at night the
Ku Kluxes rode by. They would whoop or shoot you either if you didn f t
tend to yo own business and stay at home at night* They kept black and
white doing right I tell you. I sho was afraid of them but they didn f t
bother us* If you be good whose ever place you lives on would keep , em
from harmin you* They soon got all the bad Yankies run back North from
Georgia. They whip the black men and women too but it was mostly the
men they watched and heap of it was for stealing. Folks was hungry*
Couldn f t help stealin if they seed anything* I seed heap of folks having
a mighty hard time after the war in them restruction (Reconstruction)
days* I was lucky*
"My daughter would do mo than she do fo me but she is a large woman
and had both her legs broke. They hurt her so bad it is hard fo her to
do imich* She good as she can be to everybody* The Welfare give three
of us $10*00 a month (daughter, husband, and llollie)* We mighty glad to
get that* We sho is* I am willin to work if I could get work I could
do. That f s my worst trouble* Like I tell you, I can nurse and wash
dishes if I could get the jobs.
W I don f t see much of the real young folks* I don f t know what they
are doing much* If a fellow is able he ought to be able to do good now
if he can get out and go hunt up work fo himself. That the way it look
like. I don f t know."
3. 130