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Home / Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Volume II, Arkansas Narratives, Part 4 / Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor Person interviewed: Ella Johnson 913-1/2 Victory Street, Little Rock, Arkansas Age: About 85
Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor Person interviewed: Ella Johnson 913-1/2 Victory Street, Little Rock, Arkansas Age: About 85
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Arkansas Narratives, Part 4, by Work Projects Administration.
Interviewer: Samuel S. Taylor
Person interviewed: Ella Johnson
913-1/2 Victory Street, Little Rock, Arkansas
Age: About 85
"I was born in Helena, Arkansas. Not exactly in the town but in hardly not more than three blocks from the town. Have you heard about the Grissoms down there? Well, them is my white folks. My maiden name was Burke. But we never called ourselves any name 'cept Grissom.
"My mother's name was Sylvia Grissom. Her husband was named Jack Burkes. He went to the Civil War. That was a long time ago. When they got up the war, they sold out a lot of the colored folks. But they didn't get a chance to sell my mother. She left. They tell me one of them Grissom boys has been down here looking for me. He didn't find me and he went on back.
My mother's mistress was named Sylvia Grissom too. All of us was named after the white folks. All the old folks is dead, but the young ones is living. I think my mother's master was named John. They had so many of them that I forgit which is which. But they had all mama's children named after them. My mother had three girls and three boys.
"When the war began and my father went to war, my mother left Helena and came here. She run off from the Grissoms. They whipped her too much, those white folks did. She got tired of all that beating. She took all of us with her. All six of us children were born before the war. I was the fourth.
"There is a place down here where the white folks used to whip and hang the niggers. Baskin Lake they call it. Mother got that far. I don't know how. I think that she came in a wagon. She stayed there a little while and then she went to Churchill's place. Churchill's place and John Addison's place is close together down there. That is old time. Them folks is dead, dead, dead. Churchill's and Addison's places joined near Horse Shoe Lake. They had hung and burnt people—killed 'em and destroyed 'em at Baskin Lake. We stayed there about four days before we went on to Churchill's place. We couldn't stay there long.
"The ha'nts—the spirits—bothered us so we couldn't sleep. All them people that had been killed there used to come back. We could hear them tipping 'round in the house all the night long. They would blow out the light. You would kiver up and they would git on top of the kiver. Mama couldn't stand it; so she come down to General Churchill's place and made arrangements to stay there. Then she came back and got us children. She had an old man to stay there with us until she come back and got us. We couldn't stay there with them ha'nts dancing 'round and carryin' us a merry gait.
"At Churchill's place my mother made cotton and corn. I don't know what they give her for the work, but I know they paid her. She was a hustling old lady. The war was still goin' on. Churchill was a Yankee. He went off and left the plantation in the hands of his oldest son. His son was named Jim Churchill. That is the old war; that is the first war ever got up—the Civil War. Ma stayed at Churchill's long enough to make two or three crops. I don't know just how long. Churchill and them wanted to own her—them and John Addison.
"There was three of us big enough to work and help her in the field. Three—I made four. There was my oldest sister, my brother, and my next to my oldest sister, and myself—Annie, John, Martha, and me. I chopped cotton and corn. I used to tote the leadin' row. Me and my company walked out ahead. I was young then, but my company helped me pick that cotton. That nigger could pick cotton too. None of the res' of them could pick anything for looking at him.
"Mother stayed at Churchill's till plumb after the war. My father died before the war was over. They paid my mother some money and said she would get the balance. That means there was more to come, doesn't it? But they didn't no more come. They all died and none of them got the balance. I ain't never got nothin' either. I gave my papers to Adams and Singfield. I give them to Adams; Adams is a Negro that one-legged Wash Jordan sent to me. They all say he's a big crook, but I didn't know it. Adams kept coming to my house until he got my papers and then when he got the papers he didn't come no more.
"After Adams got the papers, he carried me down to Lawyer Singfield's. He said I had to be sworn in and it would cost me one dollar. Singfield wrote down every child's name and everybody's age. When he got through writing, he said that was all and me and Pearl made up one dollar between us and give it to him. And then we come on away. We left Mr. Adams and Mr. Singfield in Singfield's office and we left the papers there in the office with them. They didn't give me no receipt for the papers and they didn't give me no receipt for the dollar. Singfield's wife has been to see me several times to sell me something. She wanted to git me to buy a grave, but she ain't never said nothin' about those papers. You think she doesn't know 'bout 'em? I have seen Adams once down to Jim Perry's funeral on Arch Street. I asked him about my papers and he said the Government hadn't answered him. He said, 'Who is you?' I said, 'This is Mrs. Johnson.' Then he went on out. He told me when he got a answer, it will come right to my door.
"I never did no work before goin' on Churchill's plantation. Some of the oldest ones did, but I didn't. I learned how to plow at John Addison's place. The war was goin' on then. I milked cows for him and churned and cleaned up. I cooked some for him. Are you acquainted with Blass? I nursed Julian Blass. I didn't nurse him on Addison's place; I nursed him at his father's house up on Main Street, after I come here. I nursed him and Essie both. I nursed her too. I used to have a time with them chillen. They weren't nothin' but babies. The gal was about three months old and Julian was walkin' 'round. That was after I come to Little Rock.
"My mother come to Little Rock right after the war. She brought all of us with her but the oldest. He come later.
"She want to work and cooked and washed and ironed here. I don't remember the names of the people she worked for. They all dead—the old man and the old ladies.
"She sent me to school. I went to school at Philander [HW: (Philander Smith College?)] and down to the end of town and in the country. We had a white man first and then we had a colored woman teacher. The white man was rough. He would fight all the time. I would read and spell without opening my book. They would have them blue-back spellers and McGuffy's reader. They got more education then than they do now. Now they is busy fighting one another and killin' one another. When you see anything in the paper, you don't know whether it is true or not. Florence Lacy's sister was one of my teachers. I went to Union school once. [HW: —— insert from P. 5]
"You remember Reuben White? They tried to bury him and he came to before they got him in the grave. He used to own the First Baptist Church. He used to pastor it too. He sent for J. P. Robinson by me. He told Robinson he wanted him to take the Church and keep it as long as he lived. Robinson said he would keep it. Reuben White went to his brother's and died. They brought him back here and kept his body in the First Baptist Church a whole week. J. P. carried on the meetin', and them sisters was fightin' him. They went on terrible. He started out of the church and me and 'nother woman stopped him. At last they voted twice, and finally they elected J. P. He was a good pastor, but he hurrahed the people and they didn't like that.
"Reuben White didn't come back when they buried him the second time. They were letting the coffin down in the grave when they buried him the first time, and he knocked at it on the inside, knock, knock. (Here the old lady rapped on the doorsill with her knuckles—ed.) They drew that coffin up and opened it. How do I know? I was there. I heard it and seen it. They took him out of the coffin and carried him back to his home in the ambulance. He lived about three or four years after that.
"I had a member to die in my order and they sent for the undertaker and he found that she wasn't dead. They took her down to the undertaker's shop, and found that she wasn't dead. They said she died after they embalmed her. That lodge work ran my nerves down. I was in the Tabernacle then. Goodrich and Dubisson was the undertakers that had the body. Lucy Tucker was the woman. I guess she died when they got her to the shop. They say the undertaker cut on her before he found that she was dead.
"I don't know how many grades I finished in school. I guess it was about three altogether. I had to git up and go to work then. [TR: This paragraph was marked with a line on the right; possibly it is the paragraph to be inserted on the previous page.]
"After I quit school, I nursed mighty nigh all the time. I cooked for Governor Rector part of the time. I cooked for Dr. Lincoln Woodruff. I cooked for a whole lot of white folks. I washed and ironed for them Anthonys down here. She like to had a fit over me the last time she saw me. She wanted me to come back, but my hand couldn't stand it. I cooked for Governor Rose's wife. That's been a long time back. I wouldn't 'low nobody to come in the kitchen when I was working. I would say, 'You goin' to come in this kitchen, I'll have to git out.' The Governor was awful good to me. They say he kicked the res' of them out. I scalded his little grandson once. I picked up the teakettle. Didn't know it had water in it and it slipped and splashed water over the little boy's hand. If'n it had been hot as it ought to have been, it would have burnt him bad. He went out of that kitchen hollerin'. The Governor didn't say nothin' 'cept, 'Ella, please don't do it again.' I said, 'I guess that'll teach him to stay out of that kitchen now.' I was boss of that kitchen when I worked there.
"We took the lock off the door once so the Governor couldn't git in it.
"I dressed up and come out once and somebody called the Governor and said, 'Look at your cook.' And he said, 'That ain't my cook.' That was Governor Rector. I went in and put on my rags and come in the kitchen to cook and he said, 'That is my cook.' He sure wanted me to keep on cookin' for him, but I just got sick and couldn't stay.
"I hurt my hand over three years ago. My arm swelled and folks rubbed it and got all the swelling down in one place in my hand. They told me to put fat meat on it. I put it on and the meat hurt so I had to take it off. Then they said put the white of an egg on it. I did that too and it was a little better. Then they rubbed the place until it busted. But it never did cure up. I poisoned it by goin' out pulling up greens in the garden. They tell me I got dew poisoning.
"I don't git no help from the Welfare or from the Government. My husband works on the relief sometimes. He's on the relief now.
"I married—oh, Lordy, lemme see when I did marry. It's been a long time ago, more 'n thirty years it's been. It's been longer than that. We married up here on Twelfth and State Street, right here in Little Rock. I had a big wedding. I had to go to Thompson's hall. That was on Tenth and State Street. They had to go to git all them people in. They had a big time that night.
"I lived in J. P. Robinson's house twenty-two years. And then I lived in front of Dunbar School. It wasn't Dunbar then. I know all the people that worked at the school. I been living here about six months."
Interviewer's Comment
Ella Johnson is about eighty-five years old. Her father went to war when the War first broke out. Her mother ran away then and went to Churchill's farm not later than 1862. Ella Johnson learned to plow then and she was at least nine years old she says and perhaps older when she learned to plow. So she must be at least eighty-five.
Interviewer: Mary D. Hudgins
Person interviewed: Fanny Johnson
Aged: 76
Home: Palmetto (lives with daughter who owns
a comfortable, well furnished home)
As told by: Mrs. Fanny Johnson
"Yes ma'am. I remembers the days of slavery. I was turned five years old when the war started rushing. No ma'am, I didn't see much of the Yankees. They didn't come thru but twice. Was I afraid? No ma'am. I was too busy to be scared. I was too busy looking at the buttons they wore. Until they went in Master's smoke house. Then I quit looking and started hollering. But, I'll tell you all about that later.
My folks all come from Maryland. They was sold to a man named Woodfork and brought to Nashville. The Woodfork colored folks was always treated good. Master used to buy up lots of plantations. Once he bought one in Virginia with all the slaves on the place. He didn't believe in separating families. He didn't believe in dividing mother from her baby.
But they did take them away from their babies. I remember my grandmother telling about it. The wagon would drive down into the field and pick up a woman. Then somebody would meet her at the gate and she would nurse her baby for the last time. Then she'd have to go on. Leastwise, if they hadn't sold her baby too.
It was pretty awful. But I don't hold no grudge against anybody. White or black, there's good folks in all kinds. I don't hold nothing against nobody. The good Lord knows what he is about. Most of the time it was just fine on any Woodfork place. Master had so many places he couldn't be at 'em all. We lived down on the border, on the Arkansas-Louisiana line sort of joining to Grand Lake. Master was up at Nashville, Tennessee. Most of the time the overseers was good to us.
But it wasn't that way on all the plantations. On the next one they was mean. Why you could hear the sound of the strap for two blocks. No there wasn't any blocks. But you could hear it that far. The "niggah drivah" would stand and hit them with a wide strap. The overseer would stand off and split the blisters with a bull whip. Some they whipped so hard they had to carry them in. Just once did anybody on the Woodfork place get whipped that way.
We never knew quite what happened. But my grandmother thought that the colored man what took down the ages of the children so they'd know when to send them to the field must have wrote Master. Anybody else couldn't have done it. Anyhow, Master wrote back a letter and said, 'I bought my black folks to work, not to be killed.' And the overseer didn't dare do so any more.
No ma'am, I never worked in the field. I wasn't old enough. You see I helped my grandmother, she is the one who took care of the babies. All the women from the lower end would bring their babies to the upper end for her to look after while they was in the field. When I got old enough, I used to help rock the cradles. We used to have lots of babies to tend. The women used to slip in and nurse their babies. If the overseer thought they stayed too long he used to come in and whip them out—out to the fields. But they was good to us, just the same. We had plenty to wear and lots to eat and good cabins to live in. All of them wasn't that way though.
I remember the women on the next plantation used to slip over and get somthing to eat from us. The Woodfork colored folks was always well took care of. Our white folks was good to us. During the week there was somebody to cook for us. On Sunday all of them cooked in their cabins and they had plenty. The women on the next plantation, even when they was getting ready to have babies didn't seem to get enough to eat. They used to slip off at night and come over to our place. The Woodfork people never had to go nowhere for food. Our white folks treated us real good.
Didn't make much difference when the war started rushing. We didn't see any fighting. I told you the Yankees come thru twice——let me go back a spell.
We had lots of barrels of Louisiana molasses. We could eat all we wanted. When the barrels was empty, we children was let scrape them. Lawsey, I used to get inside the barrel and scrape and scrape and scrape until there wasn't any sweetness left.
We was allowed to do all sorts of other things too. Like there was lots of pecans down in the swamps. The boys, and girls too for that matter, was allowed to pick them and sell them to the river boats what come along. The men was let cut cord wood and sell it to the boats. Flat boats they was. There was regular stores on them. You could buy gloves and hats and lots of things. They would burn the wood on the boat and carry the nuts up North to sell. But me, I liked the sugar barrel best.
When the Yankees come thru, I wasn't scared. I was too busy looking at the bright buttons on their coats. I edged closer and closer. All they did was laugh. But I kept looking at them. Until they went into the smoke house. Then I turned loose and hollered. I hollored because I thought they was going to take all Master's sirup. I didn't want that to happen. No ma'am they didn't take nothing. Neither time they came.
After the war was over they took us down the river to The Bend. It was near Vicksburg——an all day's ride. There they put us on a plantation and took care of us. It was the most beautifulest place I ever see. All the cabins was whitewashed good. The trees was big and the whole place was just lovely. It was old man Jeff Davis' place.
They fed us good, gave us lots to eat. They sent up north, the Yankees did, and got a young white lady to come down and teach us. I didn't learn nothing. They had our school near what was the grave yard. I didn't learn cause I was too busy looking around at the tombstones. They was beautiful. They looked just like folks to me. Looks like I ought have learned. They was mighty good to send somebody down to learn us that way. I ought have learned, it looks ungrateful, but I didn't.
My mother died on that place. It was a mighty nice place. Later on we come to Arkansas. We farmed. Looked like it was all we knowed how to do. We worked at lots of places. One time we worked for a man named Thomas E. Allen. He was at Rob Roy on the Arkansas near Pine Bluff. Then we worked for a man named Kimbroo. He had a big plantation in Jefferson county. For forty years we worked first one place, then another.
After that I went out to Oklahoma. I went as a cook. Then I got the idea of following the resort towns about. In the summer I'd to [TR: go?] to Eureka.[D] In the winter I'd come down to Hot Springs.[E] That was the way to make the best money. Folks what had money moved about like that. I done cooking at other resorts too. I cooked at the hotel at Winslow.[F] I done that several summers.
Somehow I always come back to Hot Springs. Good people in Eureka. Finest man I ever worked for—for a rich man was Mr. Rigley, [TR: Wrigley] you know. He was the man who made chewing gum. We didn't have no gas in Eureka. Had to cook by wood. I remember lots of times Mr. Wrigley would come out in the yard where I was splitting kindling. He'd laugh and he'd take the ax away from me and split it hisself. Finest man——for a rich man I ever see.
Cooking at the hotel at Winslow was nice. There was lots of fine ladies what wanted to take me home with them when they went home. But I told them, 'No thank you, Hot Springs is my home. I'm going there this winter.'
I'm getting sort of old now. My feet ain't so sure as they used to be. But I can get about. I can get around to cook and I can still see to thread a needle. My daughter has a good home for me." (I was conducted into a large living room, comfortably furnished and with a degree of taste—caught glimpses of a well furnished dining room and a kitchen equipment which appeared thoroughly modern—Interviewer)
"People in Hot Springs is good people. They seem sort of friendly. Folks in Eureka did too, even more so. But maybe it was cause I was younger then and got to see more of them. But the Lord has blessed me with a good daughter. I got nothing to complain about, I don't hold grudges against nobody. The good Lord knows what he is doing."
[D] Eureka Springs, Ark.
[E] Hot Springs National Park
[F] rustic hotel on mountain near village of Winslow, Ark.
Person interviewed: George Johnson
814 W. Ninth Street, Little Rock, Arkansas
"I was born in Richmond, Virginia, September 28, 1862, and came to this country in 1869. My father was named Benjamin Johnson and my mother was named Phoebe Johnson. I don't know the names of my grandmother and grandfather. My father's master was named Johnson; I forget his first name. He was a doctor and lived on Charleston and Morgan Streets. I don't know what my mother's name was before she married my father. And I don't know what her master's name was. She died when I was just three years old.
"The way my father happened to bring me out here was, Burton Tyrus came out here in Richmond stump speaking and telling the people that money grew like apples on a tree in Arkansas. They got five or six boat loads of Negroes to come out here with them. Father went to share cropping on the Red River Bottom on the Chickaninny Farm. He put in his crop, but by the time he got ready to gather it, he taken sick and died. He couldn't stand this climate.
"Then me and my sisters was supposed to be bound out to Henry Moore and his wife. I stayed with them about six years and then I ran off. And I been scouting 'round for myself ever since.
"My occupation has been chiefly public work. My first work was rail roading and steam boating. I was on the Iron Mountain when she was burning wood. That was about fifty some years ago. After that I worked on the steamboats Natchez and Jim Lee. I worked on them as roustabout. After that I would just commence working everywhere I could get it. I came here about forty-five years ago because I liked the city. I was in and out of the city but made this place my headquarters.
"I'm not able to do any work now. I put in for the Old Age Pension two years ago. They told me I would have to prove my age but I couldn't do it any way except to produce my marriage license. I produced them. I got the license right out of this county courthouse here. I was married the last time in 1907 and was forty-five years old then. That will make me seventy-six years old this year—the twenty-eighth day of this coming September. My wife died nine years ago.
"I have heard my father talking a little but old folks then didn't allow the young ones to hear much. My daddy sent me to bed at night. When night came you went to bed; you didn't hang around waiting to hear what the old folks would say.
"My daddy got his leg shot in the Civil War. He said he was in that battle there in Richmond. I don't know which side he was on, but I know he got his leg shot off. He was one-legged. He never did get any pension. I don't know even whether he was really enlisted or not. All I know is that he got his leg shot off in the war.
"When the war ended in 1865, the slaves around Richmond were freed. I never heard my father give the details of how he got his freedom. I was too young to remember them myself.
"I don't know how many slaves Dr. Johnson had but I know it was a good many, for he was a tobacco raiser. I don't remember what kind of houses his slaves lived in. [And I never heard the kind of food we et.] [HW: ?]
"I never heered tell of patrols till I came to Arkansas. I never heered much of the Ku Klux either. I guess that was all the same, wasn't it? Peace wasn't declared here till 1866. I never heered of any of my acquaintances being bothered but I heered the colored people was scared. All I know was that you had to come in early. Didn't, they get you.
"What little schooling I got, I got it by going to night school here. That is been a good many years back—forty years back. I forgot now who was teaching night school. It was some kin of Ishes out here I know.
"I think times is tight now. Tighter than I ever knowed 'em to be before. Quite a change in this world now. There is not enough work now for the people and from what I can see, electricity has knocked the laboring man out. It has cut the mules and the men out.
"My opinion of these young people is that they got all the education in the world and no business qualifications. They are too fast for any use."
Interviewer: Miss Irene Robertson
Person interviewed: John Johnson
R.F.D., Clarendon, Arkansas
"I was born sixteen miles on the other side of Jackson, Tennessee. The old mistress was Miss Sally, and old master was Mr. Steve Johnson, same name as mine. My papa's name was Louis Johnson but my mama belonged to the Conleys and befo' she married papa her name was Martha Conley. My folks fur as I knowed was field hands. They stayed on at Johnsons and worked a long time after freedom. I was born just befo' freedom. From what I heard all of my folks talkin' the Ku Klux 'fected the colored folks right smart, more than the war. Seemed 'bout like two wars and both of 'em tried their best to draw in the black race. The black race wanted peace all the time. It was Abraham Lincoln whut wanted to free the black race. He was the President. The first war was 'bout freedom and the war right after it was equalization. The Ku Klux muster won it cause they didn't want the colored folks have as much as they have. I heard my folks say they knowed some of the Ku Klux. They would get killed sometimes and then you hear 'bout it. They would be nice as pie in day time and then dress up at night and be mean as they could be. They wanted the colored folks think they was hants and monsters from the bad place. All the Yankees whut wanted to stay after they quit fighting, they run 'em out wid hounds at night. The Ku Klux was awful mean I heard 'em say. Mr. Steve Johnson looked after all his hands. All that stayed on to work for him. He told 'em long as they stayed home at night and behave 'em selves they needn't be scared. They wanter go out at night they had to have him write 'em a pass. Jess like slavery an' they were free.
"The master didn't give 'em nuthin'. He let 'em live in his houses—log houses, and he had 'em fed from the store stead of the smoke house. He give 'em a little money in the fall to pay 'em. 'Bout all the difference they didn't get beat up. If they didn't work he would make 'em leave his place.
"That period—after the Civil War, it sure was hard. It was a de'pression I'll tell you. I never seed a dollar till I was 'bout grown. They called 'em 'wagon wheels.' They was mighty scarce. Great big heavy pieces of silver. I ain't seed one fer years. But they used to be some money.
"Lady, whut you wanter know was fo my days, fo I was born. My folks could answered all dem questions. There was 4 girls and 6 boys in my family.
"Course I did vote. I used to have a heap a fun on election day. They give you a drink. It was plentiful I tell you. I never did drink much. I voted Republican ticket. I know it would sho be too bad if the white folks didn't hunt good canidates. The colored race got too fur behind to be able to run our govmint. Course I mean education. When they git educated they ain't studyin' nuthin' but spendin' all they make and havin' a spreein' time. Lady, that is yo job. The young generation ain't carin' 'bout no govinment.
"The present conditions—that's whut I been tellin' you 'bout. It is hard to get work heap of the time. When the white man got money he sure give the colored man and woman work to do. The white man whut live 'mong us is our best friend. He stand by our color the best. It is a heap my age, I reckon, I can't keep in work. Young folks can pick up work nearly all time.
"I started to pay fer my home when I worked at the mill. I used to work at a shoe and shettle mill. I got holt of a little cash. I still tryin' to pay fer my home. I will make 'bout two bales cotton this year. Yes maam they is my own. I got a hog. I got a garden. I ain't got no cow.
"No maam I don't get no 'sistance from the govmint. No commodities—no nuthin'. I signed up but they ain't give me nuthin'. I think I am due it. I am gettin' so no account I needs it. Lady, I never do waste no money. I went to the show ground and I seed 'em buyin' goobers and popcorn. I seed a whole drove of colored folks pushin' and scrouging in there so feared they wouldn't get the best seat an' miss somepin. Heap of poor white people scrouging in there too all together. They need their money to live on fo cold weather come. Ain't I tellin' you right? I sho never moved outer my tracks. I never been to a show in my life. Them folks come in here wid music and big tent every year. I never been to a show in my life. That what they come here fur, to get the cotton pickin' money. Lady, they get a pile of money fore they leave. Course folks needs it now.
"When I had my mules and rented I made most and next to that when I farmed for a fourth. When I was young I made plenty. I know how cotton an' corn is made now but I ain't able to do much work, much hard work. The Bible say twice a child and once a man. My manhood is gone fur as work concerned.
"I like mighty well if you govmint folks could give me a little 'sistance. I need it pretty bad at times and can't get a bit."
Interviewer: Mrs. Bernice Bowden
Person interviewed: Letha Johnson
2203 W. Twelfth Street, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
"I heered the people say I was born in time of slavery. I was born durin' of the War.
"And when we went back home they said we had been freed four years.
"My father's last owner was named Crawford. He was a awful large man. That was in Monroe County, Mississippi.
"I know they was good to us 'cause we stayed right there after freedom till my father died in 1889. And mama stayed a year or two, then she come to Arkansas.
"After my husband died in 1919, I went to Memphis. Then this girl I raised—her mother willed her to me—I come here to Arkansas to live with her after I got down with the rheumatism so I couldn't wash and iron.
"In my husband's lifetime I didn't do nothin' but farm. And after I went to Memphis I cooked. Then I worked for a Italian lady, but she did her own cookin'. And oh, I thought she could make the best spaghetti.
"I used to spin and make soap. My last husband and I was married fifteen years and eight months and we never did buy a bar of soap. I used to be a good soap maker. And knit all my own socks and stockin's.
"I used to go to a school-teacher named Thomas Jordan. I remember he used to have us sing a song
'I am a happy bluebird Sober as you see; Pure cold water Is the drink for me.
I'll take a drink here And take a drink there, Make the woods ring With my temperance prayer.'
We'd all sing it; that was our school song. I believe that's the onliest one I can remember.
"'Bout this younger generation—well, I tell you, it's hard for me to say. It just puts me to a wonder. They gone a way back there. Seem like they don't have any 'gard for anything.
"I heard 'em 'fore I left Mississippi singin'
'Everybody's doin' it, doin' it.'
"'Co'se when I was young they was a few that was wild, but seem like now they is all wild. But I feels sorry for 'em."
Person interviewed: Lewis Johnson
713 Missouri Street, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
"I'll be eighty-seven the eighteenth of this month if I live.
"They's a heap of things the human family calls luck. I count myself lucky to be livin' as old as I is.
"Some says it is a good deed I've done but I says it's the power of God.
"I never had but two spells of sickness when I was spectin' to die. Once was in Mississippi. I had a congestis chill. I lay speechless twenty-four hours and when I come to myself they had five doctors in the house with me.
"But my time hadn't come and I'm yet livin' by the help of the good Master.
"I stole off when I was eighteen and got my first marriage license. They was a white fellow was a justice of the peace and he took advantage of my father and he stood for me 'cause he wanted me to work on his place. In them days they'd do most anything to gain labor.
"When they was emigratin' 'em from Georgia to these countries, they told 'em they was hogs runnin' around already barbecued with a knife and fork in their back. Told 'em the cotton growed so tall you had to put little chaps up the stalk to get the top bolls.
"But they tole some things was true. Said in Mississippi the cotton growed so tall and spread so it took two to pick a row, and I found that true.
"Old master always fed his hands good so they could meet the demands when he called on 'em. He worked 'em close but he fed 'em.
"He raised wheat, corn, peas, rye, and oats, and all such like that. Oh, he was a round farmer all right. And he raised feed for his stock too.
"My old boss used to raise sweet potatoes enough to last three years.
"The people of the South was carried through that sweat of freedom. They was compelled to raise cotton and not raise much to eat. They told 'em they could buy it cheaper than raise it, but it was a mistake.
"I used to have a wood yard on the Mississippi and when the steamers come down the river, I used to go aboard and quiz the people from the North. Heap of 'em would get chips of different woods and put it away to carry home to show. And they'd take cotton bolls and some limbs to show the people at home how cotton grows.
"To my idea, the North is wiser than the South. My idea of the North is they is more samissive to higher trades—buildin' wagons and buggies, etc.
"Years ago they wasn't even a factory here to make cloth. Had to send the cotton to the North and then order the cloth from the North, and time they got it the North had all the money.
"In the old days they was only two countries they could depend on to raise tobacco and that was Virginia and South Carolina.
"I can remember a right smart before the War started. Now I can set down and think of every horse's name my old boss had. He had four he kept for Sunday business. Had Prince, Bill, Snap, and Puss. And every Saturday evening he had the boys take 'em in the mill pond and wash 'em off—fix 'em up for Sunday."
Person interviewed: Lizzie Johnson,
Biscoe, Arkansas
"I was born at Holly Springs, Mississippi. My mother was fifteen years old when the surrender come on. Her name was Alice Airs. Mama said she and grandma was sold in the neighborhood and never seen none of her folks after they was sold. The surrender come on. They quit and went on with some other folks that come by. Mama got away from them and married the second year of the surrender. She said she really got married; she didn't jump the broom. Mama was a cook in war times. Grandma churned and worked in the field. Grandma lived in to herself but mama slept on the kitchen floor. They had a big pantry built inside the kitchen and in both doors was a sawed-out place so the cats could come and go.
"My father was sold during of the War too but he never said much about it. He said some of the slaves would go in the woods and the masters would be afraid to go hunt them out without dogs. They made bows and arrows in the woods.
"I heard my parents tell about the Ku Klux come and made them cook them something to eat. They drunk water while she was cooking. I heard them say they would get whooped if they sot around with a book in their hand. When company would come they would turn the pot down and close the shutters and doors. They had preaching and prayed that way. The pot was to drown out the sound.
"They said one man would sell off his scrawny niggers. He wanted fine looking stock on his place. He couldn't sell real old folks. They kept them taking care of the children and raising chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and made some of them churn and milk.
"My stepfather said he knowed a man married a woman after freedom and found out she was his mother. He had been sold from her when he was a baby. They quit and he married ag'in. He had a scar on his thigh she recollected. The scar was right there when he was grown. That brought up more talk and they traced him up to be her own boy.
"Hester Swafford died here in Biscoe about seven years ago. Said she run away from her owners and walked to Memphis. They took her up over there. Her master sent one of the overseers for her. She rode astraddle behind him back. They got back about daylight. They whooped her awful and rubbed salt and pepper in the gashes, and another man stood by handed her a hoe. She had to chop cotton all day long. The women on the place would doctor her sores.
"Grandma said she remembered the stars falling. She said it turned dark and seem like two hours sparkles fell. They said stars fell. She said it was bad times. People was scared half to death. Mules and horses just raced. She said it took place up in the day. They didn't have time-pieces to know the time it come on.
"Young folks will be young the way I see it. They ain't much different. Times is sure 'nough hard for old no 'count folks. Young folks makes their money and spends it. We old folks sets back needing. Times is lots different now. It didn't used to be that way."
Person interviewed: Louis Johnson
"My father said I was fifteen when peace was declared. In slavery days they didn't low colored folks to keep their ages and didn't low em to be educated. I was born in Georgia. I went to a little night school but I never learned to read. I never learned to write my own name.
"I never did see no fightin' a tall but I saw em refugeein' goin' through our country night and day. Said they was goin' to the Blue Ridge Mountains to pitch battle. They was Rebels gettin' out of the way of the Yankees.
"Old master was a pretty tough old fellow. He had work done aplenty. He had a right smart of servants. I wasn't old enough to take a record of things and they didn't low grown folks to ask too many questions.
"I can sit and study how the rich used to do. They had poor white folks planted off in the field to raise hounds to run the colored folks. Colored folks used to run off and stay in the woods. They'd kill old master's hogs and eat em. I've known em to stay six months at a time. I've seen the hounds goin' behind niggers in the woods.
"We had as good a time as we expected. My old master fed and clothed very well but we had to keep on the go. Some masters was good to em. Yes, madam, I'd ruther be in times like now than slavery. I like it better now—I like my liberty.
"In slavery days they made you pray that old master and mistress would hold their range forever.
"My old master was Bob Johnson. He lived in Muskoge County where I was born. Then he moved to Harris County and that's where the war ketched him. He become to be a widower there.
"I member when the Yankees come and took old master's horses and mules.
"I had a young boss that went to the war and come home with the rheumatism. He was walkin' on crutches and I know they sent him to a refugee camp to see to things and when he come back he didn't have no crutches. I guess the Yankees got em.
"Childern travels now from one seaport to another but in them days they kept the young folks confined. I got along all right 'cept I didn't have no liberty.
"I believe it was in June when they read the freedom papers. They told us we was free but we could stay if we wanted to. My father left Bob Johnson's and went to work for his son-in-law. I was subject to him cause I was a minor, so I went with him. Before freedom, I chopped cotton, hoed corn and drapped peas, but now I was big enough to follow the plows. I was a cowboy too. I tended to the cows. Since I've been grown I been a farmer—always was a farmer. I never would live in town till I got disabled for farming.
"After we was free we was treated better. They didn't lash us then. We was turned loose with the white folks to work on the shares. We always got our share. They was more liberal along that line than they is now.
"After I come to this country of Arkansas I bought several places but I failed to pay for them and lost them. Now my wife and me are livin' on my daughter.
"I been married three times. I married 'fore I left Georgia but me and her couldn't get along. Then I married in Mississippi and I brought her to Arkansas. She died and now I been married to this woman fifty-three years.
"I been belongin' to the church over forty years. I have to belong to the church to give thanks for my chance here now. I think the people is gettin' weaker and wiser."
Person interviewed: Mag Johnson,
Clarendon, Arkansas
Age: 65 or 70?
"Pa was born in North Ca'lina. Ma was born in Virginia. Their names George and Liza Fowler.
"Ma's fust owner what I heard her tell 'bout was Master Ed McGehee in Virginia. He's the one what brung her in a crowd of nigger traders to Somerville, Tennessee. The way it was, a cavalry of Yankees got in back of them. The nigger trader gang drive up. They got separated. My ma and her gang hid in a cave two weeks an' not much to eat. The Yankees overtook 'em hid in the cave and passed on. Ma say one day the nigger traders drive up in front McGehee's yard and they main heads and Master Ed had a chat. They hung around till he got ready and took off a gang of his own slaves wid him. They knowed he was after selling them off when he left wid 'em.
"Ben Trotter in Tennessee bought ma and three more nigger girls. The Yankees took and took from 'em. They freed a long time b'fore she knowed of. She said they would git biscuits on Sunday around. Whoop 'em if one be gone.
"Ole miss went out to the cow pen an' ma jus' a gal like stole outen a piece er pie and a biscuit and et it. The cook out the cow pen too but the three gals was doing about in the house and yard. Ma shut polly up in the shed room. Then she let it out when she et up the pie and biscuit. Ole miss come in. Polly say, 'Liza shut me up, Liza shut me up.' She missed the pie. Called all four the girls and ma said, 'I done et it. I was so hungry.' Ole miss said that what polly talking 'bout, but she didn't understand the bird so very well. Ole miss say, 'I'm goiner tell Ben and have him whoop you.' That scared all four the girls case he did whoop her which he seldom done. She say when Master Ben come they stood by the door in a 'joining room. Ma say 'fore God ole miss tole him. Master Ben sont 'em out to pick up apples. He had a pie a piece cooked next day and a pan of hot biscuits and brown gravy, tole 'em to fill up. He tole 'em he knowed they got tired of corn batter cakes, milk and molasses but it was best he had to give them till the War was done.
"Ma said her job got to be milking, raising and feeding the fowls, chickens, ducks, geese, guineas, and turkeys all. The Yankees discouraged her. They come so many times till they cleaned 'em out she said.
"What they done to shut up polly's mouf was sure funny. He kept on next morning saying, 'Liza shut me up, Liza shut me up.' Liza pulled up her dress and underskirt and walked back'ards, bent down at him. He got scared. He screamed and then he hollered 'Ball-head and no eyes' all that day.
"Ma said they had corn shuckings and corn shellings and brush burnings. Had music and square dancing plenty times.
"When they got free they didn't know what it was nor what in the world to do with it. What they said 'minds me of folks now what got education. Seems like they don't know what to do nor where to put it.
"Pa said the nigger men run off to get a rest. They'd take to the woods and canebrakes. Once four of the best nigger fellars on their master's place took to the woods for to git a little rest. The master and paddyrolls took after 'em. They'd been down in there long 'nough they'd spotted a hollow cypress with a long snag of a limb up on it. It was in the water. They got them some vines and fixed up on the snag. They heard the dogs and the horn. They started down in the hollow cypress. One went down, the others coming on. He started hollering. But he thought a big snake in there. He brought up a cub on his nearly bare foot. They clem out and went from limb to limb till they got so away the dogs would loose trail. They seen the mama bear come and nap four her cubs to another place. His foot swole up so. They had to tote my pa about. Next day the dogs bayed them up in the trees. Master took them home, doctored his foot. Ast 'em why they runed off and so much to be doing. They tole 'em they taking a little rest. He whooped them every one.
"Pretty soon the Yankees come along and broke the white folks up. Pa went wid the Yankees. He said he got grown in the War. He fed horses for his general three years. He got arm and shoulder wounded, scalped his head. They mustered him out and he got his bounty. He got sixty dollars every three months.
"He died at Holly Grove, Arkansas about fifty years ago. Them was his favorite stories."
Person interviewed: Mandy Johnson
607 Cypress Street, Pine Bluff, Arkansas
"This is me. I'se old and ain't no 'count. I was done grown when the war started. You know I was grown when I was washin' and ironin'. I stood right there and watched the soldiers goin' to war. I heered the big bell go b-o-n-g, b-o-n-g and everybody sayin' 'There's goin' to be a war, there's goin' to be a war!' They was gettin' up the force to go bless your heart! Said they'd be back by nine tomorrow and some said 'I'm goin' to bring you a Yankee scalp.' And then they come again and want so many. You could hear the old drums go boom—boom. They was drums on this side and drums on that side and them drums was a talkin'! Yes'm, I'se here when it started—milkin' cows, washin' and cookin'. Oh, that was a time. Oh my Lord—them Yankees come in just like blackbirds. They said the war was to free the folks. Lots of 'em got killed on the first battle.
"I was born in Bastrop, Louisiana in February—I was a February colt.
"My old master was John Lovett and he was good to us. If anybody put their hands on any of his folks they'd have him to whip tomorrow. They called us old John's free niggers. Yes ma'm I had a good master. I ain't got a scratch on me. I stayed right in the house and nussed till I'se grown. We had a good time but some of 'em seed sights. I stayed there a year after we was free.
"I married durin' the war and my husband went to war with my uncle. He didn't come back and I waited three years and then I married again.
"You know they used to give the soldiers furloughs. One time one young man come home and he wouldn't go back, just hid out in the cane brake. Then the men come that was lookin' for them that 'exerted' durin' the war and they waited till he come out for somethin' to eat and they caught him and took him out in the bayou and shot him. That was the onliest dead man I ever seen. I seen a heap of live ones.
"The war was gettin' hot then and old master was in debt. Old mistress had a brother named Big Marse Lewis. He wanted to take all us folks and sell us in New Orleans and said he'd get 'em out of debt. But old master wouldn't do it. I know Marse Lewis got us in the jail house in Bastrop and Mars John come to get us out and Marse Lewis shot him down. I went to my master's burial—yes'm, I did! Old mistress didn't let us go to New Orleans either. Oh Lordy, I was young them days and I wasn't afraid of nothin'.
"Oh ho! What you talkin' 'bout? Ku Klux? They come out here just like blackbirds. They tried to scare the people and some of 'em they killed.
"Yes Lord, I seen a heap. I been through a lot and I seen a heap, but I'm here yet. But I hope I never live to see another war.
"When peace was declared, old mistress say 'You goin' to miss me' and I sho did. They's good to us. I ain't got nothin' to do now but sit here and praise the Lord cause I gwine to go home some day."
Interviewer: Mrs. Carol Graham
Person interviewed: Marion Johnson
"Howdy, Missy, glad to see you again. As you sees I'm 'bout wound up on my cotton baskets and now I got these chairs to put bottoms in but I can talk while I does this work cause it's not zacting like making baskets.
"'Pears like you got a cold. Now let me tell you what to do for it. Make a tea out of pine straw and mullein leaves an' when you gets ready for bed tonight take a big drink of it an' take some tallow and mix snuff with it an' grease the bottom of your feets and under your arms an' behind your ears and you'll be well in the mornin'.
"Yes'm hits right in the middle of cotton picking time now. Always makes me think of when I was a boy. I picked cotton some but I got lots of whippins 'cause I played too much. They was some chinquapin trees in the fiel' and I jest natchally couldn' help stopping to pick up some 'chanks' now an' then. I likes the fall time. It brings back the old times on the plantation. After frost had done fell we would go possum huntin' on bright moonlight nights and we would mostly find Mr. Possum settin' in the 'simmon tree just helpin' hisself to them good old ripe juicy 'simmons. We'd catch the possum an' then we'd help ourselves to the 'simmons. Mentionin' 'simmons, my mammy sure could make good pies with them. I can most taste them yet and 'simmon bread too.
"He! he! he! jes' look at that boy goin' by with that stockin' on his head. Niggers used to wear stockings on they legs but now they wear them on they heads to make they hair lay down.
"Since this rain we had lately my rheumatism been botherin' me some. I is gone to cutting my fingernails on Wednesday now so's I'll have health; an' I got me a brand new remedy too an' it's a good one. Take live earth worms an' drop them in hot grease an' let them cook till there's no 'semblance of a worm then let the grease cool an' grease the rheumatic parts. You know that rheumatism done come back cause I got out of herbs. I just got to git some High John the Conqueror root an' fix a red flannel sack an' put it in the sack along with five finger grass, van van oil, controllin' powder, magnetic loadstone an' drawin' powder. Now, missy, the way I fixes that sure will ward off evil an' bring heaps of good luck. And I just got to fix myself that. You better let me fix you one too. If you and me had one of them wouldn't neither one of us be ailing. You needs some lucky hand root too to carry round with you all the time. Better let Uncle Marion fix you up.
"Did I ever tell you I used to tell fortunes with cards? But I stopped that cause I got my jack now and it's so much truthfuler than cards. You 'members when I answered that question for you and missy last year and how what I told you come true. Yes'm I never misses now. Uncle Marion can sure help you.
"There goes sister Melissy late with her washin' ergin. You know, Missy, niggers is always slow and late. They'll be wantin' God to wait on them when they start to heaven. White folks is always on time and they sings 'When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder I'll Be There', and niggers sing 'Don't Call The Roll Till I Get There.' You know I hates for it to get so cool. I'll have to move in off the gallery to work. When I sits on the gallery I sees everybody pass an' changes the time of day with them. 'Howdy, Sister Melissy. Late ergin I see.' Yes, I sees everything that goes on from my gallery. I hates for cool weather to come so's I have to move in.
"Ain't that a cute little feller in long pants? Lawsy me! chillun surely dresses diffunt now from when I was a chap. I didn' know nothin' 'bout no britches; I went in my shirt tail—didn' wear nothin' but a big old long shirt till I was 'bout twelve. You know that little fellow's mama had me treat him for worms. I made him a medicine of jimson weed an' lasses for his mama to give him every morning before breakfast an' that sure will kill 'em. Yes'm, that little fellow is all dressed up. 'Minds me of when I used to dress up to go courtin' my gal. I felt 'bout as dressed up as that little fellow does. I'd take soot out of the chimney and black my shoes then take a biscuit and rub over them to shine 'em. You know biscuits have grease in them and my shoes looked just like they done been shined by the bootblack.
"Law, missy, I don' know nothin' to tell you this time. Maybe if you come back I can think of something 'bout when niggers was in politics after the war but now I just can't 'member nothin'."
Interviewer: Carol Graham (Add.)
El Dorado, Ark.
Age: ?


NEW ORLEANS – Waiting a few months after a patient has been hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure before launching a switch from enalapril to sacubitril/valsartan imposes a steep price in terms of extra major cardiovascular events, compared with starting the angiotensin-neprilysin inhibitor during the initial hospitalization, according to the open-label extension of the PIONEER-HF trial.
"We think these data have important clinical implications: While sacubitril/valsartan decreases NT-proBNP compared with enalapril regardless of when it is initiated, the early improvement in postdischarge outcomes supports the in-hospital initiation of sacubitril/valsartan in stabilized patients with acute decompensated heart failure," Adam D. DeVore, MD, declared in presenting the PIONEER-HF Extension results at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology.
PIONEER-HF was a landmark, practice-changing, double-blind clinical trial in which 881 patients were randomized to initiation of sacubitril/valsartan (Entresto) or enalapril during hospitalization for acute decompensated heart failure. In the previously reported main outcome, 8 weeks after discharge the sacubitril/valsartan group had a 29% greater reduction in NT-proBNP (the N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide) and a 42% lower rate of the composite clinical endpoint of cardiovascular death or heart failure rehospitalization than the enalapril group (N Engl J Med. 2019 Feb 7;380:539-48).
The 4-week open-label extension of PIONEER-HF began at week 8, when participants initially randomized to enalapril during the double-blind phase were switched to sacubitril/valsartan, while those assigned to in-hospital initiation of the angiotensin-neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI) stayed the course.
At week 12, after 4 weeks of open-label treatment, patients on sacubitril/valsartan from the start experienced an additional 18.5% drop in NT-proBNP from their week-8 baseline of 1,218 pg/mL. Meanwhile, the NT-proBNP level in the switch group plunged by 35.8% from a week-8 baseline of 1,630 pg/mL. As a result, both groups ended up at the same much-improved biomarker level at week 12, observed Dr. DeVore, a cardiologist at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Clinical event rates, however, were another story altogether. The clinical event gap between the two study arms documented at week 8 in the double-blind phase of the trial didn't close significantly in the 4 weeks after the enalapril group crossed over to open-label sacubitril/valsartan. Indeed, the relative risk of the composite endpoint of cardiovascular death, heart failure rehospitalization, or left ventricular assist device implantation during the 4-week extension phase was 33% lower in the continuous sacubitril/valsartan group than in the switchers. The absolute risk reduction was 5.6%, with a favorable number needed to treat of 18.
This difference was driven mainly by less rehospitalization for heart failure. Few cardiovascular deaths or LVAD implantations occurred during the relatively brief 4-week extension phase of the trial.
He was asked how practical it is to initiate sacubitril/valsartan during hospitalization for acute decompensated heart failure in real-world clinical practice, given that it can be done only after patients achieve hemodynamic stability.
Average length of stay in the index hospitalization in PIONEER-HF was just over 5 days, but the study protocol actually resulted in longer-than-needed hospitalization because it required that patients had to receive three double-blind doses of their study medication before discharge. In routine practice, it's unlikely that in-hospital initiation of sacubitril/valsartan will result in a length of stay greater than the national average of about 4.5 days, according the cardiologist.
Current ACC/American Heart Association/Heart Failure Society of American guidelines on management of heart failure include a Class Ia recommendation to switch patients from an ACE inhibitor or angiotensin inhibitor to sacubitril/valsartan (Circulation. 2017 Aug 8;136:e137-61).
However, heart failure specialists are concerned by national data showing that sacubitril/valsartan remains widely underprescribed.
Dr. DeVore reported serving as a consultant to Novartis and receiving research grants from a half dozen pharmaceutical companies as well as the American Heart Association, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute .
CHICAGO – In-hospital initiation of sacubitril/valsartan safely and significantly reduced heart failure rehospitalizations in the next 8 weeks.


The EuroPower Punch Pliers packs a big punch. Let the tool do all the work with the specially designed compound action and hardened cutting dies - punch through thick metal with ease. - Rated for up to 16 gauge. - Lightweight carrying case with handle. - Cutting dies and punches made of hardened steel. - Each punch and die is individually marked with size for ease and accuracy. - Replacement punch and die sets available. - 7 popular sizes in one plier: 3/32 1/8 5/32 3/16 7/32 ¼ 9/32.


X-Surveillance DS300 is a body camera that doubles a Push-To-Record Body Cam and Push-To-Talk Mic./Speaker.
This body camera is designed to combine the heart of law enforcement, first aid, emergency services, public safety, defense and security services. It combines evidence recordings, aggression prevention and critical communications in one trusted device.
Body Camera and More Safety.
The X-Surveillance DS300 is designed and developed in collaboration with professionals in several fields of work and who are in need of better evidence recordings, preventing agressive situations, lone job safety and critical communications.
We present you the X-Surveillance DS300 Body Cam.
This body camera makes it possible to provide all required features of a body camera without the need of additinal equipment on an already heavy uniform.
The body camera is designed to replace the already in used Push-To-Talk Mic./Speaker.
The X-Surveillance DS300 is designed to integrate easily within a wearers/officers equipment. Easy replacement of an already for decades in use Push-To-Talk Mic./Speaker, and compatible with nearly every Push-To-Talk manufacturer and device.
The X-Surveillance DS300 is also compatible with existing clip holders and specific cloting which are currently in use by the wearers/officers.
The X-Surveillance DS300 is also compatible with existing Push-To-Talk critical communications such as; TETRA / APCO / C2000 / and more.
The X-Surveillance Software is designed to be integrated hassle-free within most existing control & command management systems. The X-Surveillance Software can be stored on premises (on location or command and control center), stores both video and sound simultaneously, categorized and commented per evidence recordings.
Every recording can be documented with time of recording, location of recording, officer ID who recorded, and can be exported easily i.e. for optionally object and facial recognition.


Join Inspirational YOU for their summer masterclass and networking evening at Viacom UK, which is home to MTV UK, BET, Paramount, Comedy Central and Spike.
Come along and meet inspirational industry professionals from MTV, Viacom and senior leaders who have worked with brands such as HP, IBM and Sony Music. Learn how they manage relationships with high profile celebrities, Senior Politicians and global corporations.


PCR amplification plays a central role in the measurement of mixed microbial communities via high-throughput sequencing. Yet PCR is also known to be a common source of bias in microbiome data. Here we present a paired modeling and experimental approach to characterize and mitigate PCR bias in microbiome studies. We use experimental data from mock bacterial communities to validate our approach and human gut microbiota samples to characterize PCR bias under real-world conditions. Our results suggest that PCR can bias estimates of microbial relative abundances by a factor of 2-4 but that this bias can be mitigated using simple Bayesian multinomial logistic-normal linear models.
Author summary High-throughput sequencing is often used to profile host-associated microbial communities. Many processing steps are required to transform a community of bacteria into a pool of DNA suitable for sequencing. One important step is amplification where, to create enough DNA for sequencing, DNA from many different bacteria are repeatedly copied using a technique called Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). However, PCR is known to introduce bias as DNA from some bacteria are more efficiently copied than others. Here we introduce an experimental procedure that allows this bias to be measured and computational techniques that allow this bias to be mitigated in sequencing data.


(2) On 23 October 2007 the Court of Justice of the European Communities annulled Framework Decision 2005/667/JHA of 12 July 2005 to strengthen the criminal-law framework for the enforcement of the law against ship-source pollution, which had previously supplemented Directive 2005/35/EC with criminal-law measures. This amendment to the Directive fills the legal vacuum following the judgment.
(2) On 23 October 2007 the Court of Justice of the European Communities annulled Framework Decision 2005/667/JHA of 12 July 2005 to strengthen the criminal-law framework for the enforcement of the law against ship-source pollution, which had previously supplemented Directive 2005/35/EC with criminal-law measures. This judgment created a legal vacuum which this amendment to the Directive seeks to fill.
(3) Criminal penalties, which demonstrate social disapproval of a different nature than administrative sanctions, strengthen compliance with the legislation against ship-source pollution in force.
(3) Criminal penalties, which demonstrate social disapproval of a different nature than administrative sanctions, greatly enhance compliance with the legislation against ship-source pollution in force and should be sufficiently severe to dissuade all potential polluters from any violation thereof.
Terms used in Article 4(4) of the Marpol Convention, which prefers the principle of dissuasion over repression, should be incorporated word for word.
(3a) A consistent set of legislative measures has already been adopted at EU level to reinforce maritime safety and help prevent ship-source pollution. The legislation in question is addressed to flag States, ship owners and charterers, classification societies, port States and coastal States. The existing system of sanctions for illegal ship-source discharges supplementing that legislation needs to be further strengthened by the introduction of criminal penalties .
A link to current legislation should be made in order to guarantee legal consistency and legal certainty.
(4) Common rules on criminal penalties make it possible to use more effective methods of investigation and assistance within and between Member States.
(4) Common rules on criminal penalties make it possible to use more effective methods of investigation and to ensure effective cooperation within and between Member States.
(5) Effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties should also apply to legal persons throughout the Community because frequently ship-source pollution offences are committed in the interest of legal persons or for their benefit.
(5) The Member States should also apply effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties to legal persons throughout the Community because frequently ship-source pollution offences are committed in the interest of legal persons or for their benefit.
The directive confers the power to act on the party taking the measures, namely the Member State, in accordance with the subsidiarity principle and in view of the complexity and diversity of legislation on legal persons.
(6) Member States should provide information to the Commission on implementation of this Directive, in order to enable the Commission to evaluate its effect.
(6) Member States should be obliged to provide information to the Commission on implementation of this Directive, in order to enable the Commission to evaluate its effect.
(7) Since the objectives of this Directive cannot be achieved adequately by the Member States and, by reason of the cross-border damage which may be caused by the behaviour concerned, can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty establishing the European Community. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in the same Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.
(7) (Does not affect English version).
(Does not affect English version).
7a) The judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Communities of 13 September 2005 in Case C-176/03, Commission v Council and of 23 October 2007 in Case C-440/05, Commission v Council, mean that it is now possible for the Community to impose criminal penalties for illicit ship-source discharges of polluting substances, notwithstanding the power of Member States to impose penalties of a different type for cases which are not regarded as a criminal offences.
The inclusion of criminal offences should not imply that administrative infringements no longer exist.
7b) The high level of safety and protection of the environment in the maritime transport sector justifies the power of Member States to class illicit cases of minor ship-source discharges of polluting substances as administrative infringements under the terms of the current Directive. The effectiveness of the 'polluter pays' principle, whereby the polluting party pays for the damage caused to the environment, requires that illicit cases of minor but repeated ship-source discharges of polluting substances should be punished as criminal offences under the terms of this Directive.
(1a) In Article 1(1) the words "in Article 8" shall be replaced by "in Articles 5a and 5c and the measures concerning liability as referred to in Article 5b".
Article 1 (4), (5) and (6) of this Directive are introducing penalties and measures of liability, instead of Article 8 of original Directive 2005/35/EC, whose Article 8 is deleted by Article 1 (7) of this Directive.
1a. The Member States may class as administrative infringements illicit cases of minor ship-source discharges of polluting substances into any of the areas referred to in Article 3(1) where the act committed does not cause a deterioration in the quality of the water. Discharges of this type, under the terms of this Directive, shall be termed "minor" cases.
This reinstates a concept adopted in Framework Decision 2005/667/JHA (now annulled) that distinguished between criminal penalties and penalties of a different type (Article 4(2) of Framework Decision 2005/667/JHA).
1b. Behaviour involving repeated unlawful minor ship-source discharges of polluting substances shall be regarded as a criminal offence if the discharges have been made with intent, recklessly, or are due to serious negligence. The penalty shall, in any event, reflect the total number of minor discharges concerned.
2. Each Member State shall take the measures necessary to ensure that inciting or aiding and abetting a criminal offence referred to in paragraph 1 is punishable by criminal law.
2. Each Member State shall take the measures necessary to ensure that inciting or aiding and abetting a criminal offence referred to in paragraph 1 is punishable by criminal law in those cases where the offence is committed with intent.
Inciting or abetting can only occur where there is intent to deceive or act and not when the criminal offence occurs through recklessness or serious negligence.
1. A discharge of polluting substances into any of the areas referred to in Article 3(1) shall not be regarded as an infringement or as a criminal offence if it satisfies the conditions set out in Annex I, Regulations 9, 10, 11(a) or 11(c) or in Annex II, Regulations 5, 6(a) or 6(c) of Marpol 73/78.
The inclusion in the new directive of possible criminal offences previously governed by annulled Framework Decision 2005/667/JHA requires that the amended directive clearly states that the exceptions refer both to criminal offences and to simple infringements.
2. A discharge of polluting substances into the areas referred to in Article 3(1)(c), (d) and (e) shall not be regarded as an infringement or as a criminal offence for the owner, the master or the crew when acting under the master's responsibility if it satisfies the conditions set out in Annex I, Regulation 11(b) or in Annex II, Regulation 6(b) of Marpol 73/78.
1. Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the criminal offences referred to in Article 4 are punishable by effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal penalties.
1. Each Member State shall take the necessary measures to ensure that the infringements or criminal offences referred to in Article 4 are punishable by ,respectively, effective, proportionate and dissuasive administrative or criminal penalties.
This is changed to accord with the amendments to Article 4 of Directive 2005/35/EC, which does not restrict infringements to criminal offences but also takes in administrative infringements.
Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive not later than six months following the date of its entry into force. They shall forthwith communicate to the Commission the text of those provisions and a correlation table between those provisions and this Directive.
Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive not later than 12 months following the date of its entry into force. They shall forthwith communicate to the Commission the text of those provisions and a correlation table between those provisions and this Directive.
A reasonable amount of time is needed for the directive's implementation, up to a maximum of twelve months from the date of its entry into force. Extending this beyond one year would not be realistic given that its text is largely based on Framework Decision 2005/667/JHA which had to be implemented by 12 January 2007, meaning that the Member States have already completed a large part of the work needed to implement the directive.
In order to tackle a widespread problem in sea transport, namely the worrying increase in illegal operational discharges of ship-source polluting substances, in 2003 the Commission submitted a proposal for a directive(1) based on Article 80(2) (transport) of the EC Treaty which states that 'The Council may, acting by a qualified majority, decide whether, to what extent and by what procedure appropriate provisions may be laid down for sea and air transport'. Although international legislation to alleviate the situation already existed at that time – the Marpol 73-78 Convention – the shortcomings in its application and enforcement were becoming evident and it was also clear that the civil liability systems governing ship-source pollution in force then were not dissuasive enough. The proposal for a directive established that ship-source pollution ought to be regarded as a criminal offence subject to criminal penalties. It contained provisions on criminal law that went beyond categorising behaviour (actions that should be penalised) to set out minimum regulations on penalties, liability and jurisdiction, giving guidance on the nature of the penalties. The objections tabled by a considerable number of Member States to the Commission's choice of legal basis, transport policy under the first pillar, meant that the criminal law provisions in the directive had to be withdrawn and a JHA framework decision was submitted in their place. However, in May 2005, both proposals were adopted by Parliament and by the Council. Directive 2005/35/EC on ship-source pollution and on the introduction of penalties for infringements gives precise definitions of said infringements, and includes a clause stating that they are to be 'subject to effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties, which may include criminal or administrative penalties', while provisions on the nature, type and degree of the penalties were included in Framework Decision 2005/667/JHA.
On 13 September 2005(2), the Court of Justice of the European Communities (CJEC) gave a judgment with very significant legal repercussions in that it stipulated that the European Union institutions may, on the basis of the first pillar, legislate on criminal matters. To be precise, the CJEC ruled that under certain conditions the Community legislator could provide for criminal-law-related measures. Subsequent to this, the Commission decided to bring a case for annulment of Framework Decision 2005/667/JHA taking the view that the framework decision had been adopted on the wrong legal basis (Case C-440/05). The CJEC ruled in favour of the European Commission, and on 23 October 2007 it annulled the framework decision ruling that its articles categorising the criminal offences and the nature of the penalties (Articles 2, 3 and 5) could have been adopted on the basis of Article 80(2) (transport) of the EC Treaty, and that the framework decision therefore violated Article 47 of the EU Treaty by usurping the powers of the Community.
The proposal aims to fill a legal vacuum created by the CJEC decision that left on the sidelines a harmonised approach to possible penalties to combat maritime pollution. The Commission's new proposal is based on Directive 2005/35/EC and incorporates the essential elements of annulled Framework Decision 2005/667/JHA.
Due to the complexity and importance of the matter in hand, there was a dispute between the Committee on Transport and the Committee on Legal Affairs as to which committee was responsible. In the end, it was decided, following a recommendation from the Conference of Presidents, that the Committee on Transport should be appointed as the committee responsible and the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Committee on the Environment should issue an opinion duly inviting the main rapporteur to work closely with the two rapporteurs for the opinion.
As a result of this recommendation, the rapporteur held joint meetings with the rapporteurs for the opinion from the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Committee on the Environment, as well as with the shadow rapporteurs so that they would be aware, before the report was presented, of the key questions the rapporteur intended asking, without prejudice to his willingness to engage in dialogue throughout the legislative procedure.
Finally, it should be mentioned that this matter has also been the subject of debate in the Committee on Petitions as a petition on ship-source pollution has been received. The petitioners hope that this new proposal for a directive may help to resolve the serious problem affecting them.
The Commission's proposal is very realistic and prudent, sensibly seeking to fill the legal vacuum created by the CJEC judgment of 13 September 2005 (Case C-176/03) and more specifically by the judgment of 23 October 2007 (Case C-440/05) which annulled Framework Decision 2005/667/JHA.
The rapporteur's initial asssessment of the proposal is positive, and he takes the view that it is worthy of receiving Parliament's support subject to certain observations detailed by the rapporteur in the amendments put forward.
The Commission has simply reiterated the consensus reached when Directive 2003/35/EC was debated and adopted, but has done so on a new legal basis, since the judgments mentioned make it possible for the Community legislator to take measures connected to the Member States' criminal law.
Although it would certainly have been preferable for the Commission to have acquired powers in criminal law matters through a reform of the Treaties rather than through case law, legally it cannot be denied that both judgments make it possible for the Community to adopt criminal law measures.
This said, a restrictive or tight interpretation may be applied. The rapporteur refuses to endorse the first judgment but does not wish to move outside the strict and exceptional limits established by both judgments.
- A requirement that the measure be essential for combating serious offences against the environment.
In the rapporteur's opinion, the civil liability systems governing ship-source pollution in force at present are not sufficiently dissuasive.
- The harmonisation proposed by the Commission is the minimum needed to achieve the aim of effectively combating something specific such as ship-source pollution in the context of protection of the environment, an issue with clear European dimensions.
The use of a directive as a legal instrument fully complies with the subsidiarity principle as this implies that the Member States have an obligation as to the results thereof but are free to choose the means. Furthermore, it gives the Member States plenty of scope as regards implementation when they transpose the directive into their national legal system.
- A balanced and strict interpretation of the scope of the CJEC judgments of 13 September 2005 and 23 October 2007.
- An assessment at Community level that the existing regulations to deter ship-source pollution have not worked. The Member States do not enforce the Marpol 73/78 Convention equally, its rules are broken daily by the high number of ships sailing in Community waters, and no corrective measures are taken.
- To distinguish between administrative penalties that penalise illegal minor discharges of ship-source polluting substances defined in the Marpol 73/78 Convention and criminal penalties for serious infringements that must be classed by Member States as criminal offences in those cases where the circumstances laid down in the proposal for a directive apply, reinstating a concept previously adopted in Framework Decision 667/2005/JHA, now annulled.
- To raise behaviour involving repeated minor infringements that cause serious pollution to the status of a criminal offence provided they are committed with intent, recklessly or through serious negligence.
The aim is to dissuade certain responsible parties in sea transport who find illegal pollution preferable in reality because paying the administrative penalty costs them less than complying with the relevant legislation.
This very common practice has transformed the former principle of 'the polluter pays' to 'pay to pollute'.
- To distinguish between natural and legal persons, with subsidiarity applying to the latter on account of the complexity and diversity of legislation in Member States.
COM(2003) 92 final of 5 March 2003.
Case C-176/03, Commission v Council, judgment of 13 September 2005.
The need for a new proposal to amend an existing directive against maritime pollution became necessary in order to fill a legal vacuum created by a relevant ruling of the European Court of Justice in October 2007. This ruling annulled Framework Decision 2005/667/5HA" to strengthen the criminal-law framework for the enforcement of the law against ship source pollution", on the grounds that its articles on the definition of the criminal offence and the nature of penalties (articles 2, 3 and 5) could have been adopted on the basis of Article 80 (2) of the EC Treaty and that, therefore, the Framework Decision violated Article 47 of the EU Treaty by encroaching upon the powers of the Community.
The proposed amended Directive is fully guided by the ECJ decision above and is therefore thought no longer to suffer from a legal basis problem.
The rapporteur considers the amending proposal to be indisputably necessary in order to remedy the legal vacuum created by the ECJ decision with regard to the effective sanctioning of infringements under the 2005 directive. It is important that the said Directive is amended as soon as possible because the delay in implementation of such an important piece of EU legislation could be to the detriment of our marine environment. It should perhaps be noted that such a delay could have been avoided if those concerned did not, in the first place, commit the legal basis error which led to the consequent annulment decision by the ECJ. Hopefully such an occurrence will be avoided in the future.
Due to the nature and the circumstances under which this proposal is made, the rapporteur suggests only a very minimal number of amendments.
3) Criminal penalties, which demonstrate social disapproval of a different nature than administrative sanctions greatly enhance compliance with the legislation against ship-source pollution in force.
4) Common rules on criminal penalties make it possible to use more effective methods of investigation and effective cooperation within and between Member States.
(1a) In Article 1(1) the words "in Article 8" shall be replaced by "in Articles 5a and 5c and measures of liability as referred to in Article 5b of this Directive".
1. Member States shall ensure that ship-source discharges of polluting substances into any of the areas referred to in Article 3(1) are regarded as criminal offences if committed with intent, recklessly or with serious negligence.
1. Member States shall ensure that ship-source discharges of polluting substances into any of the areas referred to in Article 3(1) are regarded as criminal offences if committed with intent, recklessly or with negligence.
(3a) A consistent set of legislative measures has already been adopted at EU level to reinforce maritime safety and help prevent ship-source pollution. The legislation in question is addressed to flag States, ship owners and charterers, classification societies, port States and coastal States. The existing system of sanctions for illegal ship-source discharges supplementing that legislation needs to be further strengthened by the introduction of criminal penalties for any illegal discharge.


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Supreme Court says it cannot determine who leaked draft Dobbs opinion
The Washington Post • January 19, 2023
The Supreme Court as seen in Washington, D.C., on July 6, 2022. (Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court disclosed Thursday that it cannot identify the person who leaked a draft of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade.
A report from the court said "it is not possible to determine the identity of any individual who may have disclosed the document or how the draft opinion ended up with Politico. No one confessed to publicly disclosing the document and none of the available forensic and other evidence provided a basis for identifying any individual as the source of the document."
"While investigators and the Court's IT experts cannot absolutely rule out a hack, the evidence to date reveals no suggestion of improper outside access," the report said.
The legal and political worlds have been anxiously awaiting the results of the Supreme Court's internal investigation since May, after Politico published a draft of the court's opinion. The draft was essentially the same as the decision the court issued weeks later. Five conservative justices used the case to overturn Roe, while Roberts said he would have upheld the restrictive Mississippi abortion law at issue. The court's three liberals combined on an angry dissent.
The leak of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.'s draft opinion was an extraordinary breach of the decorum and practice at a place that prides itself on keeping internal deliberations of the justices secret. It has been condemned as a harmful disruption by those members who have discussed it publicly.
Alito said this fall that the leak was a "grave betrayal of trust by somebody, and it was a shock" that led to a "changed" atmosphere at the court and made his colleagues in the majority "targets for assassination." The threat to the justices, he added, was not theoretical because it "gave people a rational reason to think they could prevent that from happening by killing one of us."
Roberts took the extraordinary step of confirming the authenticity of the draft opinion the day after it was published. He also announced an internal investigation into how the draft became public.
"To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed," Roberts said. "The work of the Court will not be affected in any way."
He has been silent about the leak since then, even as other justices mentioned the investigation was ongoing and talked about what they said were damaging implications of the leak on the court's deliberations and trust among individual justices.
Justice Neil M. Gorsuch said in September it was "terribly important" to identify the source of the leak.
"Improper efforts to influence judicial decision-making, from whatever side, from whomever, are a threat to the judicial decision-making process and inhibit our capacity to communicate with one another," Gorsuch said at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit's semiannual Bench & Bar Conference in Colorado.
But little is known about the investigation, except for a few reports that have surfaced about disagreements among justices and their clerks over attempts to examine cellphone records.
Conservatives have been increasingly vocal about finding the source of the leak. Meanwhile, abortion-rights protesters have regularly gathered outside the homes of Roberts and other justices since May.
A California man is facing attempted assassination charges after being arrested outside the suburban Maryland home of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh with weapons and a plan to break into the justice's house.
The leak turned the Supreme Court into a place "where you look over your shoulder," and may have irreparably sundered trust at the institution, Justice Clarence Thomas said at a conference weeks after the leak.
"What happened at the court was tremendously bad," Thomas said. "I wonder how long we're going to have these institutions at the rate we're undermining them. And then I wonder, when they're gone or destabilized, what we're going to have as a country."
Liberal Justice Elena Kagan likewise condemned the leak. "The court depends upon confidentiality in its deliberations in order to reach decisions," she said in an appearance last fall, "and you can't do that if you know that you might wake up tomorrow morning and there is a decision and it is on the front page of newspapers."
The Washington Post's Ann E. Marimow contributed to this report.
Roberts says Supreme Court will reopen to public and defends legitimacy
Report on Supreme Court abortion opinion leak could come soon, Gorsuch says
Lack of abortion access could hinder military readiness, study says
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Enable VIM to CSS autocomplete for background-color: hsla and rgba I use VIM to edit CSS files.
 offers language-specific keywords auto completion. For CSS background-color this list is offered:
transparent
rgb(
#

I mostly use hsla( and rgba(, how do I add these to the list?
Can I edit the css.vim file for this?

A: *

*Open the default completion script:
:e $VIMRUNTIME/autoload/csscomplete.vim

*Save and edit a local copy:
:saveas ~/.vim/autoload/csscomplete.vim

*Search for transparent:
/transp<CR>

*Append the desired values:
$i, "rgba(", "hsla("<Esc>

*Repeat until you have edited all the relevant lines.

*Write the file and quit:
:x

*Try it in a new session:
$ vim foo.css

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
According to the Turkic belief, kut (also spelled qut,  or 'fortune'), is a kind of force vitalizing the body. Through kut, humans are connected with the heavens. Further, the sacred ruler is believed to be endowed with much more kut than other people, thus the heaven would had appointing him as the legitimate ruler. Turkic Khagans claimed that they were "heaven-like, heaven-conceived" and possessed kut, a sign of the heavenly mandate to rule. Rulers of the Qocho were entitled "idiqut", meaning "sacred good fortune". It also existed in Mongols as suu. It was believed that if the ruler had lost his kut, he could be dethroned and killed. However, this had to be carried out without shedding his blood. This was usually done by strangling with a silk cord. This custom of strangling continued among the Ottomans.

Usage by Ottomans
Ottomans continued this tradition by reexpressing the "ruler's heavenly mandate" (kut) into Irano-Islamic terms with titles such as "shadow of God on earth" (zill Allah fi'l-alem) and "caliph of the face of the earth" (halife-i ru-yi zemin).

Name

Kutlug is frequently used and well-known personal Uyghur name. It was also the name of first rulers of the Second Turkic Khaganate, Ilterish Qaghan, and the Uyghur Khaganate, Kutlug I Bilge Kagan.

See also
 Kutadgu Bilig
 Mandate of Heaven

Reference

Tengriism
 Vitalism

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Oklahoma City Bombing occurred on 4/19/1995. Timothy McVeigh used a truck bomb to destroy the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in retaliation of those killed in the Waco Standoff. McVeigh committed this crime two years to the day of those killed in Waco on 4/19/1993. Timothy was sentence to death and was executed. His accomplice Terry Nichols is in prison. Note that the Alfred P. Murrah Buildings was built in 1977. This is part of the unique pattern used in these crimes and you will see how it fits in a little later.
"America's Kids" Child Care Development Center were also housed in the building. When the catastrophe occurred, about 600 federal and contract workers and about 250 visitors were in the building (Oklahoma Department of Civil Emergency Management, 1996).