wid my gran'mammy de white man what owned her say, 'If you want to stay
wid her I'll give you a home if you'll work for me lak de Niggers do.'
He 'greed, 'cause he thought a heap o' his Black Woman. (Dat's what he
called her.) Ever'thing was all right 'til one o' dem uppity overseers
tried to act smart. He say he gwine a-beat him. My gran'pappy went home
dat night an' barred de door. When de overseer an' some o' his frien's
come after him, he say he aint gwine a-open dat door. Dey say if he
don't dey gwine a-break it in. He tell' em to go 'head.

"Whilst dey was a-breakin' in he filled a shovel full o' red hot coals
an' when dey come in he th'owed it at 'em. Den whilst dey was
a-hollerin' he run away. He aint never been seen again to dis good day.
I'se hear'd since den dat white folks learnt dat if dey started to whip
a Injun dey'd better kill him right den or else he might git dem.

"My mammy's name was Harriet Clemens. When I was too little to know
anything 'bout it she run off an' lef' us. I don't 'member much 'bout
her 'fore she run off, I reckon I was mos' too little.

"She tol' me when she come after us, after de war was over, all 'bout
why she had to run away: It was on 'count of de Nigger overseers. (Dey
had Niggers over de hoers an' white mens over de plow han's.) Dey kep'
a-tryin' to mess 'roun' wid her an' she wouldn' have nothin' to do wid
'em. One time while she was in de fiel' de overseer asked her to go over
to de woods wid him an' she said, 'All right, I'll go find a nice place
an' wait.' She jus' kep'a-goin. She swum de river an' run away. She
slipped back onct or twict at night to see us, but dat was all. She
hired out to some folks dat warnt rich' nough to have no' slaves o' dey
own. Dey was good to her, too. (She never lacked for work to do.)