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CONVERSATION WITH MINNIE EVANS

Tape No. 1

MINNIE: Where I was born at, you mean? And all like that?

VOICE: I'll hold it.

MINNIE: Now I was born at Long Creek, [[strikethrough]] Pinter [[/strikethrough]] Pender County, the next county from here, from New Hanover.  My mother was only-- She wasn't quite fourteen.  I was born on the 12th of December and she [[strikethrough]] had been [[/strikethrough]] was fourteen on the 14th of March.  So my mother, she--my grandmother, she moved to Wilmington and my mother-- So she brought my mother and me, because my mother wasn't anything but a child either, and that caused her to have to take care of both of us.  But my grandmother was very enthused with me.  I don't know what she thought.  My mother was out working and she would tell me sometimes a little-- She said, "Minnie, you gonna do something wonderful in life."  I said, "Is that so, Mama?"  "Yes, you are."  And she would tell other people, you know, about me.  Say, "Minnie's gonna do something wonderful."  I don't know what I did.  Only one thing: I remember-- I don't know whether you'll find many children, you know-- I remember when I started walking.  And I walked, my mother said, when I was eight [[strikethrough]] years [[/strikethrough]] months (sic) old.  She waid I was the smallest, littlest thing anyone ever seen.  But I remember that.  And I remember things back in my life then.  I tell my mother.  She say, "Minnie, you were too small.  Can you remember?"  But I say, "I remember it."  I tell her all about it.  I can remember all of our lives, more back there than I