This digital story recording was created in conjunction with the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program and its Stories from Main Street student documentary initiative, called "Stories: Yes." The project encourages students and their mentors to research and record stories about small-towns and rural neighborhoods, waterways, personal memories, cultural traditions, work histories, as well as thoughts about American democracy. These documentaries are then shared on Smithsonian websites and social media.

Recorded by Buffalo Island Central High School, EAST Students, in conjunction with the Buffalo Island Museum, Arkansas.

Red Palmer (00:04): You would get about, I imagine the average weight of what you'd call a sack of cotton, they could get as much as maybe 70, 80-pound in that sack, but most time it had like 30, 40, and 50-pound. And I'd say 30 to 50-pound is about what people would put in most of them.

Red Palmer (00:26): I wasn't a good picker. I wasn't a good picker. I could get 100-pound in the morning, maybe, or maybe 100-pound that afternoon, but I don't think I ever got 200 pounds a day, in other words. I might get 180, 190 or something, but I don't think I ever picked 200-pound in one day, but now they had people that could pick three, four and five. A lot of people could pick 300, but they was some people that could pick 400 and 500.

Asset ID: 2018.20.15