SLAVE NARRATIVES - Library of Congress

"My mother never had any chance to go to school before freedom and she
never had any chance to go afterwards because she didn Y t have any money*
When they turned them loose the white folks didn't give 9 em anything, so
they had to work* They didn't allow them to pick up a piece of paper in
slave time for fear they would learn*
"My mother remembered the pateroles* She said they used to catch and
whip the colored men and women when they would get out*
"My mother 1 s old master was the one that told mama she was free* He
told her she was free as he was* After they learned that they were free,
they stayed on till Christmas*
"After Christmas9 they went to another plantation* My gran 1 pa, he
come and got them all to come* My gran f pa f 8 name was Harvey Barnett* His
old master's son had married and he had been staying with him* That made
him be on another place* There was a good many of the children in my
grandmother 9 8 family. Mama had a sister named Lucy, one named Lethe, one
named Caroline, one named Annie, and one named Jane* She had two boys—one
named Jack, and one named Barnett* She had another sister named--1 don f t
remember her name*
"After freedom, we sharecropped for a number of years up until my
father died* He died about twenty-four years ago*
"After that mama washed and ironed for about ten or twelve years*
Then she got too old to work and we took care of her* My mother died last
March on the ninth day* She always had good health for an old lady* Never
got so she couldn f t get up and do her light work such as dress her self t
cooking, sweeping, and so on* She would even do her own washing and
ironing if we would let her* She would hide from us and pick cotton till
*9 stopped her*
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