This chapter describes a family biography of two Soninke slave descendants, Baba and Tamba, living in the Upper River Region, Eastern Gambia. In narrating their family history, they shed light on the course of emancipation, which in this area of West Africa lasted from the end of the nineteenth until at least the middle of the twentieth century. After the advent of legitimate trade in the early and middle part of the century, many other Soninke came to the Gambia to farm peanuts, which soon became the major export commodity of the Gambian valley. Today, former slaves and former masters are tied by customary relations, as is the case among other status groups: the komo are frequently called upon to perform particular kome tasks at ceremonies, such as fetching firewood (the men) and cooking the communal meals (the women).