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MILLIE MARKHAM               0124-NC/#211
          "I WAS NEVER A SLAVE.  ALTHOUGH I WAS BORN SOMEWHERE ABOUT 1855, I WAS
 NOT BORN IN SLAVERY, BUT MY FATHER WAS.  I'M AFRAID THIS STORY WILL BE MORE ABO
UT MY FATHER AND MOTHER THAN IT WILL BE ABOUT MYSELF.
          "MY MOTHER WAS A WHITE WOMAN.  HER NAME WAS TEMPIE JAMES.  SHE LIVED O
N HER FATHER'S BIG PLANTATION ON THE ROANOKE RIVER AT RICH SQUARE, NORTH CAROLIN
A.  HER FATHER OWNED ACRES OF LAND AND MANY SLAVES.  HIS STABLES WERE THE BEST A
NYWHERE AROUND; THEY WERE FILLED WITH HORSES, AND THE HEAD COACHMAN WAS NAMED SQ
UIRE JAMES.  SQUIRE WAS A GOOD LOOKING, WELL BEHAVED NEGRO WHO HAD A WHITE FATHE
R.  HE WAS TALL, AND LIGHT COLORED.  TEMPIE JAMES FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS NEGRO C
OACHMAN.  NOBODY KNOWS HOW LONG THEY HAD BEEN IN LOVE BEFORE TEMPIE'S FATHER FOU
ND IT OUT, BUT WHEN HE DID HE LOCKED TEMPIE IN HER ROOM.  FOR DAYS HE AND MISS C
HARLOTTIE, HIS WIFE, RAVED, BEGGED AND PLEADED, BUT TEMPIE JUST SAID SHE LOVED S
QUIRE.   WHY WILL YOU ACT SO?   MISS CHARLOTTIE WAS CRYING.   HAVEN'T WE DONE EV
ERYTHING FOR YOU AND GIVEN YOU EVERYTHING YOU WANTED?
          "TnMPIE SqOOK HER HEAD AND SAID:  yOU HAVnN'T GIVnN-ME2sQUrRE. &HE'S&A
LL I DO WANT.
          "THEN IT WAS THAT IN THE DARK OF THE NIGHT MISTER JAMES SENT SQUrRE&AW
AY; HE SENT HIM TO ANOTHER STATE AND SOLD HIM.
          "BUT TEMPIE FOUND OUT.  SHE TOOK WHAT MONEY SHE  COULD FIND AND RAN AW
AY.  SHE WENT TO THE OWNER OF SQUIRE AND BOUGHT HIM, THEN SHE SET HIM FREE AND C
HANGED HIS NAME TO WALDEN SQUIRE WALDEN.  BUT THEN IT WAS AGAINST THE LAW FOR A
WHITE 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 WHISKE
Y AND 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 BEATIFU WOMAN.  SHE WAS TALL AN
D FAIR, WITH LONG LIGHT HAIR.  SHE HAD FIFTEEN CHLDREN, SEVEN BOYS AND EIGHT GIR
LS, AND ALL OF THEM LIVED TO BE OLD ENOUGH TO SEE THEIR GREAT-GRAND-CHILDREN.  I
 AM THE YOUNGEST AND ONLY ONE LIVING NOW.  MOST OF US CAME BACK TO NORTH CAROLIN
A.  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 HUCKL
EBERRIES.  A WOMAN CAME RIDING DOWN THE ROAD ON A HORSE.  SHE WAS A TALL WOMAN I
N A LONG GREY RIDING HABIT.  SHE HAD GREY HAIR AND GREY EYES.  SHE STOPPED AND L
OOKED 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 GONG TO HIT
ME WITH HER WHIP, BUT SHE DIDN'T, SHE HIT THE HORSE.  HE JUMPED AND RAN SO FAST
I THOUGHT SHE WAS GOING TO FALL OFF,BUT SHE WENT AROUND THE CURVE AND I NEVER SA
W HER AGAIN.  I NEVER KNEW UNTIL LATER THAT SHE WAS MIS' CHARLOTTIE JAMES, MY GR
ANDMOTHER.
          "I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT SLAVERY TIMES, FOR I WAS BORN FREE OF FRE
E PARENTS AND RAISED ON MY FATHER'S OWN PLANTATION.  I'VE BEEN LIVING IN DURHAM
OVER SIXTY-FIVE YEARS."
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