"In dem days nobody but Niggers an' shawl-strop[FN: carpet baggers]
folks voted. Quality folks didn' have nothin' to do wid such truck. If
dey had a-wanted to de Yankees wouldn' a-let 'em. My old marster didn'
vote an' if anybody knowed what was what he did. Sense didn' count in
dem days. It was pow'ful ticklish times an' I let votin' alone.

"De shawl-strop folks what come in to take over de country tol' us dat
us had a right to go to all de balls, church meetin's, an' 'tainments de
white folks give. But one night a bunch o' uppity Niggers went to a
'tainment in Memorial Hall. Dey dressed deysef's fit to kill an' walked
down de aisle an' took seats in de very front. But jus' 'bout time dey
got good set down, de curtain drapped[FN: dropped] an' de white folks
riz[FN: arose] up widout a-sayin' airy word. Dey marched out de buildin'
wid dey chins up an' lef' dem Niggers a-settin' in a empty hall.

"Dat's de way it happen ever' time a Nigger tried to git too uppity. Dat
night after de breakin' up o' dat' tainment, de Kloo Kluxes rid[FN:
rode] th'ough de lan'. I hear'd dey grabbed ever' Nigger what walked
down dat aisle, but I aint hear'd yet what dey done wid 'em.

"Dat same thing happened ever' time a Nigger tried to act lak he was
white.

"A heap o' Niggers voted for a little while. Dey was a black man what
had office. He was named Lynch. He cut a big figger up in Washington. Us
had a sheriff named Winston. He was a ginger cake Nigger an' pow'ful
mean when he got riled. Sheriff Winston was a slave an', if my mem'ry
aint failed me, so was Lynch.

"My granny tol' me 'bout a slave uprisin' what took place when I was a