I jess don't know what is going to become of the present generation. The
conditions are better than they use to be, heap better. They have no
education and don't have to work as hard as we use to. They seems so
restless and don't take no interest in nothin. They are all right. It is
jess the times an the Bible full filling fast as it can.
Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor
Person interviewed: Charles Green Dortch
804 Victory Street, Little Rock, Arkansas
Age: 81
[HW: Father a Pet]
"I was born June 18, 1857. The reason I don't show my age is because I
got Scotch-Irish, Indian, and Negro mixed up in me. I was born in
Princeton--that is, near Princeton--in Dallas County. Princeton is near
Fordyce. I was born on Hays' farm. Hays was my second master--Archie
Hays. Dortch was my first master. He brought my parents from Richmond,
Virginia, and he settled right in Princeton.
"My father's name was Reuben Rainey Dortch. He was an octoroon I guess.
He looked more like a Cuban than a Negro. He had beautiful wavy hair,
naturally wavy. He was tall, way over six feet, closer to seven. His
father was Dortch. Some say Rainey. But he must have been a Dortch; he
called himself Dortch, and we go in the name of Dortch.
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