"’Ol Man Abe Lincoln’ was a fine ol’ man, and I liked him, he never freed us; but tol’ us how. But ’Booker’, and Jefferson Davis wusn’t no friend to the colored man that I knowed anything ’bout.
"It is best to be free if you carry your self right you’ll be free all you days. I belongs to the Saints Church, t’aint the ’Holy Roller’ and I allys wus ’ligious but I don’ know much ’bout stuff, never put no study on it.
"Ise just a poor old ’nigger’ slave that is waitin’ for the Good Lord to come and take me home and it won’t be long chile; no, ’Granny’ ain’t got long."
*Interview with Louis Thomas,* *St. Louis, Missouri.
The subject of this sketch is Louis Thomas, 93 years of age who lives at 3007 Clark Avenue with his oldest daughter, Laura Richardson and family.
In the middle room of a 3-room brick apartment laid Louis Thomas, confined to his bed, with a severe cold, but kind enough to be interviewed by the writer. The old man was clean and quite composed and said he had been interviewed so often it was a common thing to him. He was 6 feet tall and weighed 174 when taken sick. The home was very poorly furnished but clean. He is of dark complexion with white hair. He said:
"I was born in Pickens County, Alabama, May 9, 1844. My mother’s name was Tama and my father’s was Thomas Windom. Our owner was Levy Windom. I had 2 sisters and 2 brothers. I married Caroline Windom. She was owned by the same folks I was, we had 11 children but only 2 is living. The oldest one, Laura Richardson, I am living with. The other daughter’s name is Evergreen Richardson, living at 3100 Clark Avenue. Dey are both Richardson’s but dere husbands are not related.
"I been living in St. Louis since 1923. When I was a slave, I had to plow barefooted, hooked to a double horse plow. For 8 or 10 years of dat time we had a white overseer in de summer. I did not only plow barefooted but naked as well. In de winter dey allowed me a few clothes but not many. I worked from daylight until dark, I didn’t know nothing 'bout time.
"Making and gathering crop was my biggest task. We made 500 bales of cotton a year, besides growing wheat, potatoes and other vegetables for the hands. I stayed on de plantation till way after de Civil War was fought. If de slaves could get as near as East St. Louis and Ohio with out getting caught, dey would join de Yankees and help fight for freedom. But the Rebs wouldn’t think of giving slaves any guns, as mean as they had been to us.