MILLIE MARKHAM               0124-NC /#211
     IWAS NEVER A SLAVE.  ALTHOUGH I WAS BORN SOMEWHERE ABOUT 1855, I WAS NOT B
ORN IN SLAVERY, BUT MY FATHER WAS.  I'M AFRAID THIS STORY WILL BE MORE ABOUT MY
FATHER AND MOTHER THAN IT WILL BE ABOUT MYSELF.
     MY MOTHER WAS A WHITE WOMAN.  HER NAME WAS PEMPIE JAMES.  SHE LIVED ON HER
 FATHER'S BIG PLANTATION ON THE ROANOKE RIVER AT RICH SQUARE, NORTH CAROLINA.  H
ER FATHER OWNED ACRES OF LAND AND MANY SLAVES.  HIS STABLES WERE THE BEST ANYWHE
RE AROUND;  THEY WERE FILLED WITH HORSES, AND THE HEAD COACHMAN WAS NAMED SQUIRE
 JAMES.  SQUIRE WAS A GOOD LOOKING, WELL BEHAVED NEGRO WHO HAD A WHITE FATHER.
HE WAS TALL AND  LIGHT COLORED.  TEMPIE JAMES FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS NEGRO COACH
MAN.  NOBODY KNOWS HOW LONG THEY HAD BEEN IN LOVE BEFORE TEMPIE'S FATHER FOUND
IT OUT, BUT WHEN HE DID HE LOCKED TEMPIE IN HER ROOM.  FOR DAYS HE AND MISS CHAR
LOTTIE, HIS WIFE, RAVED, BEGGED AND PLEADED, BUT TEMPIE JUST SAID SHE LOVED SQUI
RE.  WHY WILL YOU ACT SO? MISS CHARLOTTIE WAS CRYING.  HAVEN'T WE DONE EVERYTHIN
G FOR YOU AND GIVEN YOU EVERYTHING YOU WANTED?
     TnMPIE SHOOK HER HEAD AND SAID:  YOU HAVEN'T GIVEN ME SQUIRE.  HE'S ALL I D
O WANT.
     THEN IT WAS THAT IN THE DARK OF THE NIGHT MR JAMES SENT SQUIRE AWAY;  HE SE
NT HIM TO ANOTHER STATE AND SOLD HIM.
     BUT TEMPIE FOUND IT OUT.  SHE TOOK WHAT MONEY SHE  COULD FIND AND RAN AWAY.
  SHE WENT TO THE OWNER OF SQUIRE AND BOUGHT HIM, THEN SHE SET HIM FREE AND CHAN
GED HIS NAME TO WALDEN SQUIRE WALKER.  BUT THEN IT WAS AGAINST THE LAW FOR A WHI
TE WOMAN TO MARRY A NEGRO UNLESS THEY HAD A STRAIN OF NEGRO BLOOD, SO TEMPIE CUT
 SQUIRE'S FINGER AND DRAINED OUT SOME BLOOD.  SHE MIXED THIS WITH SOME WHISKEY A
ND DRANK IT, THEN SHE GOT ON THE STAND AND SWORE SHE HAD NEGRO BLOOD IN HER, SO
 THEY WERE MARRIED.  SHE NEVER WENT BACK HOME AND HER PEOPLE DISOWNED HER.
     TEMPIE JAMES WALDEN, MY MOTHER, WAS A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN.  SHE WAS TALL AND FA
IR WITH LONG LIGHT HAIR.  SHE HAD FIFTEEN CHILDREN, SEVEN BOYS AND EIGHT GIRLS,
AND ALL OF THEM LIVED TO BE OLD ENOUGH TO SEE THEIR GREAT GRAND CHILDREN.  I AM
 THE YOUNGEST jND-ONLY ONE LIVING NOW.  MOST OF US CAME BACK TO NORTH CAROLINA.
 TWO OF MY SISTERS MARRIED AND CAME BACK TO RICH SQUARE TO LIVE.  THEY LIVED NOT
 FAR FROM THE JAMES PLANTATION ON ROANOKE RIVER.  ONCE WHEN WE WERE CHILDREN MY
 SISTER AND I WERE VISITING IN RICH SQUARE.  ONE DAY WE WENT OUT TO PICK HUCKLEB
ERRIES.  A WOMAN CAME RIDING DOWN THE ROAD ON A HORSE.  SHE WAS A TALL WOMAN IN
A LONG GREY RIDING HABIT.  SHE HAD GREY HAIR AND GFEY EYES.  SHE STOPPED AND LOO
KED AT US.  MY, SHE SAID, WHOSE PRETTY LITTLE GIRLS ARE YOU?
     WE'RE SQUIRE WALDEN'S CHILDREN, I SAID.
     SHE LOOKED AT ME SO LONG AND HARD THAT I THOUGHT SHE  WAS GOING TO HIT ME W
ITH HER WHIP, BUT SHE DIDN'T, SHE HIT THE HORSE.  HE JUMPED AND RAN SO FAST I TH
OUGHT SHE WAS GOING TO FALL OFF, BUT SHE WENT AROUND THE CURVE AND I NEVER SAW H
ER AGAIN.  I NEVER KNEW UNTIL LATER THAT SHE WAS MIS' CHARLOTTIE JAMES, MY GRAND
MOTHER.
     I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT SLAVERY TIMES, FOR I WAS BORN FREE OF FREE PARE
NTS AND RAISED ON MY FATHER'S OWN PLANTATION.  I'VE BEEN LIVING IN DURHAM OVER
65 YEARS.