Find a passage in the story indicating that Phoenix Jackson was probably once a slave.

Near the end of the story, Phoenix arrives in Natchez at the medical clinic. When she gets inside, she has mental spell during which she temporarily forgets why she is there and what she is doing. But she comes to her senses and talks with the nurse. The nurse has to repeatedly ask Phoenix how her grandson is. Finally, Phoenix remembers her grandson and says that her memory left her. She adds that she was...

Near the end of the story, Phoenix arrives in Natchez at the medical clinic. When she gets inside, she has mental spell during which she temporarily forgets why she is there and what she is doing. But she comes to her senses and talks with the nurse. The nurse has to repeatedly ask Phoenix how her grandson is. Finally, Phoenix remembers her grandson and says that her memory left her. She adds that she was never educated and this probably has something to do with how her memory slips from time to time. She says: 

"I never did go to school, I was too old at the Surrender," she said in a soft voice. "I'm an old woman without an education. It was my memory fail me. My little grandson, he is just the same, and I forgot it in the coming." 

This story takes place in Mississippi, a state which belonged to the Confederacy during the Civil War. Leading up to the Civil War, these southern states had succeeded (left the "United" states). One of the reasons was to preserve the institution of slavery. The "Surrender" that Phoenix speaks of describes the end of the Civil War. This is when the Confederacy (the South) surrendered to the North (the Union states). So, prior to the Surrender (when Phoenix was already too old to go to school), Phoenix would have still been a slave.