They hand me a little
pocket change. It amount to maybe $2 a month. I had that job four years.
If I could work I would be on the farm. I could make a living there. I
always did. I had plenty on the farm.
"Young folks don't take on no manners. The young folks take care of
themselves. It is the old ones seeing a hard time now."
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed: Wash Ford, Des Arc, Ark.
Age: 75?
"One thing I remembers hearin' my folks talk bout. They had a leader
hoeing cotton. His name was John. He was a fast hand. He hoe one row a
piece and reach over and hoe the other. He'd get way ahead of the other
hands. If they didn't keep up they get a whoopin. So he rest till they
ketch up. Once he hoed up to a tree--big shade tree out in the field. He
stuck his hoe in the root of the tree and a moccasin bit him bout that
time. It bit him right on the toe. They took him up to the house but he
died.
"I was born close to Des Arc and Hickory Plains. My parents was Henry
and Fannie Ford. Her master was named Powell and his master was named
Frank Ford. I was the oldest 'mong six boys and four girls. My folks
didn't git nuthing. I don't think they expected freedom much.
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