Rose Williams was sixteen years old when her enslaver told her she'd been paired with a man named Rufus to produce children. When Rufus climbed into her bed, she grabbed a fireplace poker. Her mistress told her plainly: "De massa wants yous to raise him chillens." Her enslaver threatened the whipping stake if she refused. She thought about her mother — also bought at the same auction — and made the only choice she had. She had two children. The day she was freed, she left and never returned. In 1937, at over ninety years old, she told a government interviewer everything. "I never marries," she said, "'cause one 'sperience am 'nough." #BlackHistory #HiddenHistory #AmericanHistory #SlaveryHistory #historymatters