SLAVE NARRATIVES - Library of Congress

k&i 938
Interviewer Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed Liza Stigasrs» Forrest City* Arkansas
Age 70 plus
"I was born in Poplar Grove, Arkansas on Col* Blbbs f place* Mama was
sold twice« Once she was sold in Georgia, once in Alabama, and brought to
Tennessee, later to Arkansas* Master Ben Hode brought her to Arkansas*
She had ten children and I f m the only one living* Mama was a dancing woman*
She could dance any figure* They danced in the cabins and out in the yards*
"The Yankees come one day to our house and I crawled under the house*
I was scared to death* They called me out* I was scared not to obey and
scared to come on out* I come out* They didn f t hurt me* Mr# Ben Hode hid
a small trunk of money away* He got it after the War* The slaves never
did know where it was hid* They said the hair was on the trunk he hid his
money in* It was made out of green hide for that purpose*
*Mama had a slave husband* He was a field hand and all kind of a hand
when he was needed* Mama done the sewing for white and black on the place*
She was a maid* She could cook some in case they needed her* She died
first* Papa f s foot got hurt some way and it et off* He was so old thejr
couldn't cure it* He was named Alfred Hode* Mama was Viney Hode* She
said they had good white folks* They lived on Ben Hode f s place two or
three years after freedom*
W I farmed, cooked, and ironed all my life* I don f t know how to do
nothing else*
n I live with my daughter* I got a son**