put de chain 'roun dere neck an' throw 'em in de river. I ain't heard
dis--I done seen it.

"In 1927 I wus still in peonage but I wus back in Mississippi on
Gordon's farm. When de levee broke in May of dat same year I lost my
wife an' three chilluns. I climbed a tree an' stayed dere fer four days
an' four nights. Airplanes dropped food an' when I got ready to eat I
had to squeeze de water out of de bread. After four days I got out of de
tree an' floated on logs down de river 'till I got to Mobile, Alabama,
an' I wade fum dere to Palmetto, Georgia, where I got down sick. De boss
mans dere called Gov. Harden an' he sent de Grady Hospital examiners
down dere an' got me an' I been in Atlanta since dat time."




Willie H. Cole
10-8-37

THE STORY OF AN EX-SLAVE
[MRS. LULA WASHINGTON, Age 84]


Mrs. Lula Washington was born a slave. She claims to be eighty-four
years old.

Mrs. Washington was confined to bed because of a recent accident in
which she received a broken leg.

She is the mother of twenty-three children of which only two are living.