Willis Woodson

Willis Woodson was born at a place called Whiterock, somewhere east of the Mississippi River. He was sold with his mother and others to Ike Isom, who paid $500 for him, cheap because he was small. When Isom moved to Texas, the old women and small children rode in wagons while the men walked, guarded by one of Isom's sons on a white horse. At night all the enslaved people were chained together to sleep, with white men taking turns guarding them with guns.

In Texas, Willis became nurse to the mistress's children. His mother could not do field work because her back had been injured by a whipping when she was young, so she became the cook. Willis carried firewood into the big house and, because he worked in the house, had better clothes and shoes than many others. His favorite memory was being made footman: the enslaver gave him a red uniform with black stripes and drilled him at the front door to take hats and canes and say "Thank you" and "This way, please." He later wore the suit to drive the family to church. He never saw anyone whipped, but he saw the long whip in the barn, worn out at one end.

Near the end of the war soldiers killed the livestock and burned the barn. Willis stayed several years after freedom, then worked snaking logs at a sawmill. He married and had seven children, and in old age lived with them in turn in Tyler, Texas, where he was mending his fishing tackle the day he was interviewed.