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Person interviewed: Jane Osbrook 

602 E. 21st Avenue, Pine Bluff,

Arkansas Age: 90“Yes ma'm, I was livin' in slavery days. Iwas borned in Arkansas I reckon. I was bornedwithin three, miles of Camden but I wasn'traised there. We moved to Saline Countydirectly after peace was declared.

“I don't know what year I was born

because you see I'm not educated but I wasninety the 27th of this last past May. Yesma'm, I'm a old bondage woman. I can saywhat a heap of em can't say—I can tell thetruth bout it. I believe in the truth. I wasbrought up to tell the truth. I'm no young girl.

“My old master was Adkison Billingsly. Myold mistress treated us just like her ownchildren. She said we had feelin's and tastes. Ivisited her long after the war. Went there andstayed all night.

“I member when they had the fight at Jenkins Ferry. Old Steele had 30,000 and he

come down to take Little Rock, Pine Bluff andothers. Captain Webb with 1,500 Rebels wasfollowin' him and when they got to SalineRiver they had a battle.

“The next Sunday my father carried all us

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children and some of the white folks to seethe battle field. I member the dead was lyin'in graves, just one row after another and

hadn't even been covered up.“Oh yes, I can tell all bout that. Nother

time there was four hundred fifty colored andfive white Yankee soldiers come and ask myfather if old mistress treated us right. We toldem we had good owners. I never was soscared in my life. Them colored soldiers wasso tall and so black and had red eyes. Oh yesma'm, they had on the blue uniforms. Oh, wesure was fraid of em—you know them eyes.

“They said, 'Now uncle, we want you to tellthe truth, does she feed you well?' My ma didall the cookin' and we had good livin'. I tole

my daughter we fared ten thousand timesbetter than now.

“I come up in the way of obedience. Anytime I wanted to go, had to go to old mistressand she say, 'Don't let the sun go down onyou.' And when we come home the sun was inthe trees. If you seed the sun was goin' downon you, you run.

“I ain't goin' tell nothin' but the truth. Truthbetter to live with and better to die with.

“Some of the folks said they never seed a

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biscuit from Christmas to Christmas but wehad em every day. Never seed no sodie tillpeace was declared—used saleratus.

“In my comin' up it was Whigs andDemocrats. Never heard of no Republicans tillafter the war. I've seed a man get upon thatplatform and wipe the sweat from his brow.I've seed em get to fight in' too. That wasdone at our white folks house—arguin'politics.

“I never did go to school. I married rightafter the war you know. What you talkin' bout—bein' married and goin' to school? I washousekeepin': Standin' right in my own lightand didn't know it.”

Interviewer: Mrs. Bernice Bowden