Wichita eagle., 1889-11-29
AFRIC-AMERICAN TYPES
NATIVE NEGRO SONGS AND DANUuS
NATURALlZED IN THE SOUTH.

= East Trip of the wanderer and Last ART
I'll can Slaves Landed in the United States
They Maintain Secrecy as to Many %
: Their Customs
lH Especial Correspondence
D NEW York, Nov Ono of the queries
characters it has been my good fortune tc
: run across was Lucius Williams, a full
blooded African, about 40 years of age who
lives in the village Of Hamburg, in South
Carolina. | was expressing curiosity as &c
the recollections and legends of their native
homes among the darkies. from which they
or their fathers had been taken captives
There are many darkies who were born in
Africa, but they are of such a low order OF
intellect that they fail to understand inter
rogatories as utterly as Chlnee in police
court Lucius was an exception. He talked
volubly and intelligently Of the scenes of his
childhood, from whence he had been stolen
and sold to traders by BLACK men"
Since freedom Lucius has supported him
self by embarrassing in summer, saving fire.
wood in winter and doing odd chores for the
''white folks" He does not like to wear
shoes, and would not if his lungs were not
affected. He talked rather disjointedly at
first, but by putting his scraps together a
clear idea of the advent of slave on our
| shores was formed.
He likes to talk, and the odor that came
| from within the hut, telling of preparations
! for the noon meal Of cabbage and bacon, had
no alluring charm for Lucius as long as bis
audience listened. He was 10 years old when
one morning he was dispatched by his father
on an GRAND Lucius, or "Umwalla," US he
was then called was making his way leisurely
along, little dreaming Of the turning point in
his life so near at hand when two large black
men sprang from the bushes, seized, gagged
and bound him and hurried him off After
several days tiresome tramping, they arrived
st the coast, and there for the first time he
saw white men. He says he was more fright
ened at the sight OF these strangely hued and
attired beings than be had been at his CAP
ture. He was sold, and found himself next
day stored in the bottom of boat which was
rowed out to where ship lay at anchor. He
is now satisfied that il was the coast of Liberia
from which he and his purchasers embarked
The vessel was the Wanderer, and Lucius
made the passage on what proved to be her
last trip. He and the survivors of the cargo
were the last slave. to touch the coast of the
United States. They had hard time land
ing, for when they neared the coast of Caro-
lima cutter hove in sight and chased the
Nanderer, which made port at Pocataligo
Many of Lucius' companions had died in the
close confinement to which they were SUBJ
jected. For days the boat was becalmed in
the tropics, and death was often preferable
to their sutferings.
Lucius and his companions were turned
over to men of their color, who directed their
toilets, and he and the others were soon at
tired in their first civilized garments-cotton-
made pantaloons and shirts. Lucius passed
into the hands of the Lamar family, living in
the lower part of Aiken county, near the
Savannah river, and here he was quickly in
structed in the culture Of the farm products
He picked up 'gumbo" English, in which he
talks TO this day. The young ladies of the
family named him, taught him the little civil
tiles of our world, and from them he first
learned of the divine mysteries
He is very fond of the descendants of his
old owner, the white folks up at the big
house" and rarely lets week go by without
calling and paying his respects Recently he
was induced to sit for photograph for the
family, who are ever solicitous about the COM
fort of their former slave. He says the
winters are very severe on the African born
and that many of his companions du voyage
died from pneumonia and consumption short |
ly after arriving here. He frequently goes |
TO Capt. Ben 1illmans place in Edgefield |
county, where there are some countrymen |
from his Immediate section in Africa and |
talks to them In his native tongue. They
never teach it to their children, and the
vocabulary seems very limited, as he has no
word for many commonplace objects.
lie says he never heard of Sunday until
coming to this country. He was too young
to know the name of his tribe. The men
as many wives as they could support,
and broke the neck of any man who violated
the sanctuary Of another's home.
He says he was never homesick after he
once became reconciled to his new life.
Many of the customs in the quarters" were
very much like those of his people in Africa,
There the festivities were always marked by
dancing and singing. The rich and weird
ntonation that the plantation darkey gives
bis vocal efforts today Lucius finds very
much like the songs Of his people in their
primitive African homes
The recitative part, told OF in sonorous,
swelling tones, and with great fervor, is
purely African. The chant reaches cres-
'endo and then sobs away into dying echo,
having all the pathos Of lost SOULS regret
The dancing, also, partakes Of a foreign
lamp, as do the wrigglins, undulating and
,yrating.
Lucius is called a Guinea Niger" being
hort, wiry ard black. He wears goatee
N his chin, which be plaits as his people did.
THOMAS P HENRY.