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"Arkansas Narratives, Part 2"

"
Her mind is not very good at times, but the day I took her picture, I
asked who she used to cook for and she said, "Jeff Davis."
She is rather deaf, nearly blind and toothless, but can get around the
house quite well. The neighbors say that she has been a hard worker and
of a very high-strung temperament.
The granddaughter, Mattie Sneed, says her grandmother said she was sold
in Virginia when she was eight years old.)


Interviewer: Bernice Bowden
Person interviewed: Leroy Day (c)
Age: 80
Home: 123 N. Walnut Street, Pine Bluff, Ark.

"Good Lord yes, lady, I was here in slavery days. I remember my old
marster had an overseer that whipped the people pretty rapid.
"I remember when the soldiers--the Yankees--come through, some said they
was takin' things.
"Old Marster, his name was Joe Day, he was good to us. He seemed to be a
Christian man and he was a Judge. They generally called him Judge Day. I
never seen him whip nobody and never seen him have no dispute. I tell
you if he wasn't a Christian, he looked like one.
"I was born in Georgia and I can remember the first Governor we had
after freedom. His name was Governor Bullock. I heard it said the people
raised a lot of sand because they said he was takin' the public money.


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