My folks had about eleven children. I was in the middle. Some of my brothers and sisters were hired out to other folks, and some of them were sold down south. Girls weren't worth much money, and all of my mother's friends told her to train me as a cook, seamstress, nurse or something so that I would not have to work in the field. But, as I will explain later, that was not to be.
As soon as we children learned to walk, we were sent to stay with this real old lady while our parents worked the fields. We were all afraid of her. She would whip us when we got out of line. She really watched us close and would not let us out of her sight. She used to warn us about getting too close to the creek because we might drown, and to be careful around the woods so that we wouldn't get lost. On the days she felt good, she would tell us frightening stories about something called the Middle Passage. We didn't understand all of what she was talking about, but we still stood there scared and shaking.