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creek when de ponds got low in de summer, an' I milked when I wuz

knee hight to a duck.  Soon ez I wuz big 'nough to foller a plow I

he'ped plow an' ten' de farm.  "I stayed on de Emmons plantation till

I went off to wah.  Ole man Emmons done ax his fam'ly to nebber sell

off any of de darkies, ef dey cud he'p it, an' nebber to sell any of

'em to darkie traders.  Dem traders wuz looked on ez low, an' dey treated

folks bad."

      "Why, I seen slave traders buy up  'oomens an' men fur de pur-

pose of breedin' em jes' lak an'mals, an' dey'd beat em ef dey diden'

do whut dey spected of em.  De slave traders wanted strong chillun fur

wuk han's, an' dey all time figurin' to get a strong '-ooman to carry

 out de plans fur raisin' chillun whut ud sell reel good. Day'd keep em

an' feed em fur a few years, en den sell em off to de highest bidder.

No decendy in sech folks ez dem.  Slavery wuz worse den mos' people

kin 'magine, at de best."

      "De darkie traders use to travel all over de country  sometimes

an' buy up slaves fum plantation owners who wuz mos'  ready to go down

in debt.  I seen men chained togedder,  an' 'oomans bein'  carried in  wag-

ons wid dey babies.  Jes' tekin' em to market fur sale lak cattle."

       "We used de church de white folks used in Carlisle.  It wuz a

log church.  De first preacher I member wuz Uncle Milliard. He used to

have some de white whillun read de Bible fur  him, an' den he'd try member

whut he could, an' preach dat a way."

       "We diden' wuk in de fiel's on Sunday, but de  'oomans had to git

 de mails an' mek de beds jes' the same ez any other day.  Us men had to

 tend de stock, an'  dat tuk mos' of de day an' lots of de evenin', kaze, 




			

Works Progress Administration (WPA) Ex-Slave Narratives

William Emmons, Ex-Slave Narrative