Interviewer: Pernella M. Anderson
Person interviewed: Tom Douglas
Route 2, Box 19-A, El Dorado, Arkansas
Age: 91


"I was born in Marion, Louisiana September 15, 1847 at 8 o'clock in the
morning. I was eighteen years of age at surrender. My master and missus
was B.B. Thomas and Miss Susan Thomas. Old master had a gang of slaves
and we all worked like we were putting out fire. Lord child, wasn't near
like it is now. We went to bed early and got up early. There was a gang
of plow hands, hoe hands, hands to clear new ground, a bunch of cooks, a
washwoman. We worked too and didn't mind it. If we acted like we didn't
want to work, our hands was crossed and tied and we was tied to a tree
or bush and whipped until we bled. They had a whipping post that they
tied us to to whip us.

"We was sold just like hogs and cows and stock is sold today. They built
nigger pens like you see cow pens and hog pens. They drove niggers in
there by the hundred and auctioned them off to the highest bidder. The
white folks kept up with our age so when they got ready to sell us they
could tell how old we were. They had a 'penetenture' for the white folks
when they did wrong. When we done wrong we was tied to that whipping
post and our hide busted open with that cow hide.

"We stayed out in the field in a log house and old master would
allowance our week's rations out to us and Sunday morning we got one
biscuit each. If our week's allowance give out before the week we did
not get any more.