File Copy                                                    District #6
Copied                                                       Clark County
1-15-41                                                      Racial Group
bw

                              19/3/270

                              SAMUEL LYONS

                              Ex-Slave, age about 90

     "I wuz mos" er young man when de wah bruk out, but I doan know

my 'zact age, kaze de book what had our ages wrote en it got burnt up

when Evall's house wuz burnt."

     "I wuz bawn en Sawhill Station, Bourbon County, Kaintucky. Julie

Ann wuz my mother's name, en my father wuz Sam Lyons, but he died en my

mother got married ergin ter Gawge Conley."

     "Evall he had erbout 200 slaves en er big plantation en fine race

horses. He raised cane, wheat en cawn, en he had er big stillhouse fer

ter mak he's own whiskey, en he made it ter sell too."

     "Us done our cookin' en our cabin, en twuz'nt much 'cept jowl bacon,

cawn bread en syrup.

     "Me en part of our fam'ly wuz sold onct, en ole Miss Evall's mother

brought us back the same day."

     "I seen slaves whipped at de whipping post en Baris, Kaintucky, till

dey backs bleed, en den dey springle de cuts with salty water."

     "Dif'funt slave owners take de slaves ter help over slave owners

cut dey winter's wood, er husk cawn, er shear dey sheep. Us done got good

food den, en sometines dey uster let der slaves have dances togedder, whilst

dey wuz wulkin' ter git de wuk done up."

     "Evall bought our shoes in Paris, en ef dey wuz too big us wored em,

en ef dey wuz too little us wored em jes' de same; but sometimes us cut de

toes outer de shoes ter mek em long enough."
			

Works Progress Administration (WPA) Ex-Slave Narratives

Samuel Lyons, Ex-Slave Narrative