Molly Parker

Molly Parker was 85, ailing and frail, when she was interviewed in lower Lee County, Alabama, where she lived with her sister Edna in a simple cabin with a small flower patch between it and the field Edna still worked. She was born in Virginia to John and Fanny, and had siblings Edna, Sam and Albert. She was brought to Alabama as a child and sold to a Mr. Dunn near Salem. She grew up to be "a big-size house girl" who could really work. The overseer, Mr. Digby, blew a bugle every morning to get everyone up by daylight, and she called him a good overseer.

She married Dick Parker on a Sunday, and though a fine dinner was laid out, she was too happy to eat much. She had no children of her own but helped her mother raise hers. Union troops camped near the house, and she helped cook and carry their food. The enslaver never told them they were free; they read it in the newspaper, and stayed on a long time after. She said she would hate to see slavery again, "because it sure was bad for some," though her own family had fared well.