The Ecstacy of Freedom

I'm reading A People's History of the United States and there's a passage on the freeing of slaves that I'd like to share: Former slaves, interviewed by the Federal Writers Project in the thirties, recalled the war's end. Susie Melton:

I was a young gal about ten years old, and we done heard that Lincoln gonna turn the niggers free... Was wintertime and mighty cold that night, but everybody commenced getting ready to leave. Didn't care nothin' about missus - was going to the Union lines. And all that night the niggers danced and sang right out in the cold. Next morning at day break we all started out with blankets and clothes and pots and pans and chickens piled on our backs.... And as the sun come up over the trees the niggers started singing: Sun you be here and I'll be gone Sun you be here and I'll be gone Sun you be here and I'll be gone

Annie Mae Weathers recalled:

I remember hearing my pa say that when somebody came and hollered, "You niggers is free at last," say he just dropped his hoe and said ina queer voice, "Thank God for that."

Fannie Berry:

Niggers shoutin' and clappin' hands and singin'! Chillun runnin' all over the place beating time and yellin'! Everybody happy. Sho' did some celebratin'. Run to the kitchen and shout in the window: "Mammy, don't you cook no more. You's free! You's free!"