A FTER the coming of freedom there were
two points upon which practically all the
people on our place were agreed, and I find
that this was generally true throughout the South:
that they must change their names, and that they
must leave the old plantation for at least a few days
or weeks in order that they might really feel sure
that they were free.

In some way a feeling got among the coloured
people that it was far from proper for them to bear
the surname of their former owners, and a great
many of them took other surnames. This was one
of the first signs of freedom. When they were
slaves, a coloured person was simply called "John"
or "Susan." There was seldom occasion for more
than the use of the one name. If "John" or
"Susan" belonged to a white man by the name
of "Hatcher," sometimes he was called "John
Hatcher", or as often "Hatcher's John." But there
was a feeling that "John Hatcher" or "Hatcher's

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