polkiore: Stories From Ex...Slaves
page 2
another mo‘ dan dey does now. I guess dese days de mos‘ writing dat is done is business writing. ~‚t de Sardis sto ‚ dey used to give big barbecues. Dein days barbecues was de mos‘ source o~ amusement ~er ev‘ybody, all de v~hite Thlks and de darkies de whole day long. All de fiddlers from ev‘ywhars come to Sardis arid fiddle ~er de dances at de barbecues. Dey had a platform built not fer from de barbecue table to dance on. Any darky dat could cut de buck and de pigeon wing was called upto de platform to perform fer ev‘ybody.

	ttNight befo‘ dem barbecues, I used to stay up all night a~.cooking and basting de meats wid barbecue sass (sauce). It made of vinegar, black and red pepper, salt, butter, a little sage, coriander, basil, onion, and garlic. Sortie folks drop a little sugar in it. On a long pronged stick Iwraps a soft ra~ or cotton fer a swab, and all de night long I swabe dat meat ‘till it drip into de fire. Dem drippings change de smoke into seasonéd fumes dat smoke de meat. We turn de meat over and swab it dat way all night long ‘till it ooze seasoning and bake all through.

	“Lawyer McKis~ick arid Lawyer A.W. Thompson come out and make speeches at dem barbecues. Both was young men den. Dey dead no~V, I living. I is 97 and still gwine good. Dey looked at my ‘karpets‘ (pit stakes). On dem I had whole goats, whole hogs, sheep and de side of a cow. Dem lawyers liked to watch me ‘nint‘ dat meat. Dey lowed I had a turn fer ninting it (annointin1g it).“


Source:	Wesley Jones, Rt.2, Union, S.C.
Interviewer:	Caidvell Sims, Union, S.C. (5/16/37)