Susan Barnett; father, Ben Bearden; grandfather,
Harvey Barnett.

2. Place and date of birth--Arkansas, 1878

3. Family--Three children.

4. Education, with dates--

5. Places lived in with dates--Jerome, Arkansas and Little Rock. No
dates.

6. Occupations and accomplishments, with dates--Farmed, wash and iron.

7. Special skills and interests--

8. Community and religious activities--Belongs to Baptist Church.

9. Description of informant--

10. Other points gained in interview--

Text of Interview (Unedited)

"My mother used to sit down and talk to us and tell us about slavery.
If she had died when I was young I wouldn't have known much. But by her
living till I was old, I learned a lot.

"My mother's old master was Tom Barnett, so she said. No, not 'so she
said' because I have seed him. He give her her age and all at that
time. I have it in my Bible. He said that she was twelve years old the
Christmas before the surrender. The surrender was in May, wasn't it?

"My mother's name was Susan Bearden. She married Ben Bearden. She worked
in Tom Barnett's house. She milked and churned and 'tended to the
children and all such as that. He never allowed her to go to the field.
Neither her mother, my grandmother. She was the cook. My mother's name
before she married was Susan Barnett.

"An old colored lady that they had there seed after the colored
children. She looked after my mother too. She was so old she couldn't do
nothin' so they had her to look after the children. My grandmother was
kept busy because she had the white folks to cook for and she had all
the colored folks to cook for too.

"There is an old lady down on Spring Street that can give you a lot of
information about slavery times.

"A boy was telling her that somebody was going 'round asking questions
about slavery and she said she wished he would come and see her.

"My mother never had any chance to go to school before freedom and she
never had any chance to go afterwards because she didn't have any money.
When they turned them loose the white folks didn't give 'em anything, so
they had to work. They didn't allow them to pick up a piece of paper in
slave time for fear they would learn.

"My mother remembered the pateroles. She said they used to catch and
whip the colored men and women when they would get out.

"My mother's old master was the one that told mama she was free. He told
her she was free as he was. After they learned that th