Laura Redmoun

Laura Redmoun (her name is also spelled Redman) was born in Memphis, Tennessee, a twin. Her enslavers had been expecting her mother's baby as a gift for the family, and when Laura was six months old she was given as a wedding present to the enslaver's daughter, Augusta, who married a Mr. Scruggs. They lived on Third Exchange Street in Memphis with only one other enslaved person, Lucy, the cook. Laura slept at the foot of Miss Gusta's bed and said she grew up not even knowing she was enslaved. When Scruggs threatened to whip her, his wife told him that if he laid a hand on her she would leave him.

At about eight she had a religious awakening so intense that she ran off into the cane ridges outside the city for three days, shouting praise until she was found. At nine she was baptized in the Mississippi River. When Union troops entered Memphis, Miss Gusta hid her jewelry in Laura's braids and Laura buried the silver in the garden, so well that it was hard to find afterward. She laughed remembering Scruggs fleeing out the back and hanging by the seat of his pants from the fence until the soldiers pulled him down. Later the Klan whipped Scruggs, for reasons she never learned.

When Laura was seventeen, Miss Gusta fell gravely ill and arranged her affairs, including Laura's marriage, which took place beside her bed. Laura said no one had ever struck her in her life. Her six children all died young. She later found her mother through newspaper notices; her mother had been sold before the war's end to a harsh man who made her plow with oxen and haul heavy logs. Laura lived in Dallas, Texas, when interviewed.