Edited by:
Annie A. Rose,
Macon, Georgia


Susan Matthews is an intelligent old negress, very tall and weighing
close to two hundred pounds. Her eyes were bright, her "store-bought"
teeth flashed in a smile as she expressed her willingness to tell us all
she remembered "'bout ole times." In a tattered, faded print dress, a
misshapen hat and ragged shoes, she sat enjoying the sunshine on the
porch while she sewed on an underskirt she was making for herself from
old sugar sacks. Her manner was cheerful; she seemed to get genuine
enjoyment from the interview and gave us a hearty invitation to come to
see her again.

"I was jes a chile" she began, "when de white folks had slaves. My ma an
her chillen wuz the onliest slaves my marster and mistis had. My pa
belonged to some mo white folks that lived 'bout five miles from us. My
marster and mistis were poor folks. They lived in a white frame house;
it wuz jes a little house that had 'bout five rooms, I reckon. The house
had a kitchen in the backyard and the house my ma lived wuz in the back
yard too, but I wuz raised in my mistis' house. I slept in her room;
slep' on the foot of her bed to keep her feets warm and everwhere my
mistis went I went to. My marster and mistis wuz sho good to us an we
loved 'em. My ma, she done the cooking and the washing fer the family
and she could work in the fields jes lak a man. She could pick her three
hundred pounds of cotton or pull as much fodder as any man. She wuz
strong an she had a new baby mos' ev'y year. My marster and Mistis liked
for to have a lot of chillen 'cause that helped ter make 'em richer."