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	•-Ei~S1ave Stories ~
	Subject: Josej~h LeonidasStar,# 133 Q~uebec Place,	i~!~n~12e



	-	~ If: the poetic strain in the Dun‘bar Negroes of the south is an Inheri— tanceandnot „ just a sift from On }Ti~h~ Knoxville,Tennessee‘s aged Negro Poet,—born Joseph Leonidas Star,-but pro~inent1y knowii in the comnxunity as

.	~Leet1S~tar,poet,Pc1itician ai_d Lodge Man,~thinks tnat Georgia‘s poetic genius Paul Lawrence ~unbar,~maybe took his writin‘ ~e1ls“ from him.

	I, My grandfather and Paul Lawrence ~imbar ~ s ~randfa;her was cousins. ~Te were a niu.ch younger man than I am, for I was ei~ghty—one years old the twenty—sixth of Decernber,1937. S0 ~ reckon I give it dov~ntomy kin—man. But -

: it seem to x~~e,~that Poets i~ just born tha-taway. Po1try is nothin‘ but Tru.th
	~ =‚	-	. . ~ ~	~ ~

	anyway, and it‘s Tru,th~ sets us free~ Âiid that-makes me a free-born citizen bothways ~and every ways. 1 were born free . I were alw~‘s hap:~-nature4 and I ‘éïpect ~ die th~taway. Onêo±~‘ my poems is named1‘~Be Sa-ti~±ed!‘ arid I say in it that 1f •a ra~n‘s got soinethin‘ to eat, and teeth to bite, he ~hou1d be

	.-~- -~ satisfied. Youc~t.~t~e your ~ood/wit~you~ O1~~an RQckefei1er,wh~n he ~ied .‚; . -. -•2 here awhile back, went aw~y from here ‘thout hishat and shoes. That‘s the way :

	its goin‘ to be with allus, no matter what our color is.“ -

	~1The people ‘round here calls me “Lee“ 5tar, and. I want to tell you, Lee 8tar is a free—born man. ~ Bat ofcourse, things bein‘ as they~were,both

	my mother ~nd father were slaves.That le for a few years. They lived in	‚ . ~ Greenville,Tennessee. Vy mother.,Maria- Œi~iëss, was free‘d before the emanoir,ation,

-	by the good words of her youx~ white mistréss, who told. ‚ ~p all when she was ~T- ~ •~ aboùt to die, she wanted ‚ em to set Marie free, ~c~ause she didnt want her

	.‚ ate tO be nobod.ys else‘s slave.They wàs ~1aymates you see.My mother ~ .en years old. ~i~ien ‘she was freed4“ -