Breeding

"I don't know of any cases where slaves were compelled to breed but I
have heard of them. I don't know the names of the people. Just remember
hearing talk about them.


Freedom Comes

"My mother and father never found out they were free till April 1865.
Some of them were freed before then. I don't know how they found it out,
but I heard them talking about it.


Right after Freedom

"Right after freedom, my father and mother worked right on in the same
place just like they always did. I reckon they paid them, I don't know.
They did what they wanted to.


Patrollers, Ku Klux, and Reconstruction

"I remember the Ku Klux. They used to come and whip the niggers that
didn't have a pass. I think them was pateroles though. There was some
people too who used to steal slaves if they found them away from home,
and then they would sell them. I don't know what they called them. I
just remember the Ku Klux and the pateroles.