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File								District #6
Copied							  Clark County
1/15/41								Racial Groups
F. W.
				ANNA MARIA COFFEE.

			      Ex-slave, age about 89.


	"I wuz bawn en Nawth Cahlina, near Ensfiel '.  I wuz er pretty big

girl when de war started.  But I doan known my real age, kaze ever time

I wux sold dey made by age jes' what day wanted it.  I Jedge, t'oughtm I

must a been about twelve er fourteen years ole when de war started."

	"I member hearin' be big guns firs' fired over Fo't Sum'ter en 

South Cahlina.  Dat wuz de startin' o' de war."

	"I wuz sold on de block more'n onct, en I wuz owned by 'leven dif-

fu'nt owners.  I wuz sold fum my mother en father when I wuz jes sech

er little tot dat I cant hardly member em a tall.  My father wuz named

James Arbor, an my mother she wuz Abbie Freeman."

	"I member bein' sold ter ole Jordan White, David Gregory, en David

Gregory, Jr., John Freeman, David Teller, Bradley Pickford, Ned Pickford,

Kinglin' Powells, en Thomas Hurt, was my last owner."

	"Ned Pickford stole me fum Bradley Pickford, an sold me ter Kinglin'

Powells, down en Warsaw, South Cah'lina.  Kinglin' Powells tuk me en

fourteen other slaves ter Richmond, Virginia.  Us left Warsaw one night

on de train, en when mornin' come us wux crossing de James Ribber, goin'

en ter Richmond.  Dat ole James Ribber wuz sho muddy dat mornin'.  Dey

tuk us ter de Trader jail, en give us somepen ter eat, en change o' cloes."

	"Dat Trader Jail wuz sho' er big place.  Us set roun' all day, en

whwn night come, wuz put en rooms up stairs; de 'omans en girls all on

			

Works Progress Administration (WPA) Ex-Slave Narratives

Anna Maria Coffee, Ex-Slave Narrative