MY SLAVE DAYS

MY TRAGIC STORY

Every slave has their own story,let me tell you mine. My name is Carmen Johnson & I am 87 years old. I was a slave my whole life. I lived in North Carolina.My parents were slaves as well. My father was killed in the cornfield plowing. He was shot by my master, Joseph Anderson, just for stopping to take a drink of water. He said "If a man can't work without lasting a few hours without water, he aint a man, so he aint worth living."

My mother and I were crushed. There was nothing we could do, my father is gone and never coming back. He is dead. that wasnt anything compared to what happened to my mother and me. We were inside getting ready for bed. The work day was done and it was time to sleep. A knock was at the door and my mother told me to finish combing my hair as she went to answer the door. It was our master Joseph, he was drunk as usual. "My misterist dont want me today and you're the only one left" were his words. I aint ever forgetting those words. My mother was speechless, he grabbed her by the waist tight and threw her to the bed. "NO! MASTER! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS TO ME!!" I was teriffied! I didnt even move. I started crying and the master noticed but didn't care. All he said was "Watch, this may be you one day," and kept rapping my mother.

I was only nine years old. There wasn't much i could do so i just closed my eyes and cried. When he was done, he got up and left. My mother laid on the bed crying with her face down on the pillow. She turnd around, saw me, and went to give me hug. We didn't waste any time, we packed our belonnings which wasn't many and ran away. It was late at night, everyone was asleep so it wasn't difficult. My mother and I walked all the way to Virginia. She had a sister over there so that was where we headed.

By the time we arrived, our feet were soar. When we got there my Auntie, my mom's sister, hugged us both!! We told her what happened and she was furious!!She married a rich white lawyer & he solved our situation. He gave my mother & I FREEDOM!!My mother and I were no longer slaves. We did the only thing we could do after all the bad things we've been through:we MOVED ON!!