rolina on December 15th and in a few
days I was at my mother's home. I tried to fool them. There were two men
with me and they called me by a ficticious name, but when I shook my
mother's hand I held it a little too long and she suspicioned something
still she held herself until she was more sure. When she got a chance
she came to me and said ain't you my child? Tell me ain't you my child
whom I left on the road near Mr. Moore's before the war? I broke down
and began to cry. Mother nor father did not know me, but mother
suspicioned I was her child. Father had a few days previously remarked
that he did not want to die without seeing his son once more. I could
not find language to express my feeling. I did not know before I came
home whether my parents were dead or alive. This Christmas I spent in
the county and state of my birth and childhood; with mother, father and
freedom was the happiest period of my entire life, because those who
were torn apart in bondage and sorrow several years previous were now
united in freedom and happiness.

EH

N. C. District: No. 3 [ ]
Worker: Travis Jordan
Subject: SARAH ANNE GREEN
Ex-Slave, 78 Years
Durham County

[TR: No Date Stamp]

SARAH ANNE GREEN
EX-SLAVE 78 YEARS

My mammy an' pappy wuz Anderson an' Hannah Watson. We fus' belonged to
Marse Billy an' Mis Roby Watson, but when Marse Billy's daughter, Mis'
Susie ma'ied young Marse Billy Headen, Ole Marse give her me, an' my
mammy an' my pappy for er weddin' gif'. So, I growed up as Sarah Anne
Headen.

My pappy had blue eyes. Dey wuz jus' like Marse Billy's eyes, kaze Ole
Marse wuz pappy's marster an' his pappy too. Ole Marse wuz called
Hickory Billy, dey called him dat kaze he chewed hickory bark. He
wouldn' touch 'bacca, but he kept er twis' of dis bark in his pocket
mos' all de time. He would make us chillun go down whare de niggers wuz
splittin' rails an' peel dis bark off de logs befo' dey wuz split. De
stuff he chewed come off de log right under de bark. After dey'd skin de
logs we'd peel off dis hickory 'bacca in long strips an' make it up in
twis's for Ole Marse. It wuz yellah an' tas' sweet an' sappy, an' he'd
chew an' spit, an' chew an' spit. Mis' Roby wouldn' 'low no chewin' in
de house, but Ole Marse sho done some spittin' outside. He could stan'
in de barn door an' spit clear up in de lof'.

Ole Marse an' Mis Roby lived on er big plantation