'em
still whippin' the niggers and tearing them up and sometimes lettin'
the dogs bite them to save the bull whips.

"I was here in slavery time but I was small and I don't know much
about it 'cept what they told me. But you don't need to go no further
to hear all you want to know. They sont you to the right place. They
all know me and they call me Mother Johnson. So many folks been here
long as me, but don't want to admit it. They black their hair and
whiten their faces, and powder and paint. 'Course it's good to look
good all right. But when you start that stuff, you got to keep it up.
Tain't no use to start and stop. After a while you got that same color
hair and them same splotches again. Folks say, 'What's the matter, you
gittin so dark?' Then you say, 'Uh, my liver is bad.' You got to keep
that thing up, baby.

"I thank God for my age. I thank God He's brought me safe all the way.
That is the matter with this world now. It ain't got enough religion.

"I was born in Mississippi way below Jackson in Crystal Springs. That
is on the I. C. Road near New Orleans. The train that goes there goes
to New Orleans. I was bred and born and married there in Crystal
Springs. I don't know just when I was born but I know it was in the
month of December.

"I remember when the slaves were freed. I remember the War 'cause I
used to hear them talking about the Yankees and I didn't know whether
they were mules or horses or what not. I didn't know if they was
varmints or folks or what not. I can't remember whether I seen any
soldiers or not. I heard them talking about soldiers, but I didn't see
none right 'round where we was.

"Now what good's that all goin' to do me? It ain't goin' to do me no
good to have my name in Washington. Didn't do me no good if he stuck
my name up on a stick in Washington. Some of them wouldn't know me.
Those that did would jus' say, 'That's old Alice Johnson.'

"Us old folks, they don't count us. They jus' kick us out of the way.
They give me 'modities and a mite to spend. Time you go and get lard,
sugar, meat, and flour, and pay rent and buy wood, you don't have
'nough to go 'round. Now that might do you some good if you didn't
have to pay rent and buy wood and oil and water. I'll tell you
something so you can earn a living. Your mama give you a education so
you can earn a living and you earnin' it jus' like she meant you to.
But most of us don't earn it that way, and most of these educated
folks not