ttle."
Perhaps it was a nickname bestowed upon him to distinguish him from
some other William of larger stature. However, he stands fully six
feet in height, and has a strong, vigorous voice. He is the sole
surveying ex-slave of the Galla Rock community.

Interviewer: Thomas Elmore Lucy
Person interviewed: "Aunt Minerva" Lofton
Russellville, Arkansas
Age: 69

"Come in! Yes, my name's Minerva Lofton--at least it was yistiddy.
Now, whatcha gonna ask me? Hope you ain't saying something that'll git
me in bad. Don't want to git in any more trouble. Hard times' bad
enough.

"I was born in the country nine miles from Clarendon, Monroe County,
December 3, 1869. Father died before I was born. My mother came from
Virginia, and her mistress' name was Bettie Clark. They lived close to
Richmond, and people used to say 'Blue Ridge,' so I think it was Blue
Ridge County, Virginia. Mother was sold to Henry
Cargile--C-a-r-g-i-l-e.

"When they were expecting peace to be declared soon a lot of the
colored people named Parks took many of the slaves to Texas to escape
from the Yankees, but when they got to Corpus Christi they found the
Yankee soldiers there just the same, so they came back to Arkansas. I
sure used to laugh at my dear old mother when she'd tell about the
long trip to Corpus Christi, and things that happened on the way. They
stopped over at Camden as they went through, and one of the colored
gals who hated her played a prank on her to take out her spite on
mother: They had stopped at a dairyman's home near Camden, and she
sent my mother in to get a gallon of buttermilk. After drinking all
she could hold she grabbed mother by the hair of the head and churned
her up and down in the buttermilk till it streamed down her face, and
on her clothes--a sight to behold. I laughed and laughed until my
sides ached when mother told me about this.

"Old mistis' name (that is, one of the old mistis') was Bettie Young,
and my mother was named Bettie for her; she was a namesake--sort of a
wedding present, I think.

"I've been a member of the Pentecostal church for nineteen years.

"No sir, I never have voted and never expect to. Why? Because I have a
religious opinion about votin'. I think a woman should not vote; her
place is in the home raising her family and attending to the household
duties. We have raised only two boys (stepchildren)--had no children
of our own--but I have decided ideas about women r