rick foundation, a few feet behind a
privet hedge in front, with a brick wall along the side in which he
has cemented a few huge conch shells.

After fifty-four years residence here, a political boss in his ward,
and the only Negro member of the Young White Men's Republican League,
Star's influence in his community is attested by the fact that when he
"destructed", the Knoxville City Council to "please do somethin' about
it, Knoxville being too big a city to keep callin' street's alleys,"
the City Council promptly and unanimously voted to change the name of
King's Alley to Quebec Place.

When the interviewer called, Star's door was padlocked. But he
appeared soon, having received word by the grape-vine system that some
one "was to see him",--"They told me it was the Sherriff" he laughed.
He came down the long muddy alley at a lively clip. He claimes he is
able to walk about 20 miles each day, just to keep in condition. He
wore a broad-brimmed black "derby-hat", a neatly pressed serge suit in
two tones, a soiled white pleated shirt and a frazzled-edged black bow
tie. His coat lapels and vest-front were adorned with badges and
emblems, including his Masonic pins, a Friendship Medal, his
Republican button and a silver crucifix. The Catholic church,
according to Lee, is the only one in Knoxville which permits the black
man to worship under the same roof with his white brothers.

Many of Star's poems have been published in the local and state
papers. He keeps a record of deaths of all citizens, and has done so
for sixty years. He calls the one, which records murders and hanging,
his "Doomsday Book", and "encoached" in it he claims is an accurate
date record of all such events of importance in his lifetime. His
records are neatly inscribed in a printing form and very legible. His
conversation is marked by grammatical incongruities, but he does not
speak the Negro dialect.

INTERVIEW
DAN THOMAS
941 Jefferson Street
Nashville, Tennessee

"I wuz bawn in slavery in 1847 at Memphis, Tennessee en mah marster
wuz Deacon Allays. Mah mammy wuz de cook at de big house. Mah mammy
d'ed soon atter I wuz bawn, en de Missis had me raised on a bottle.
Marster en Missis treatus all dere slaves kindly en plenty ter eat en
eve'y one wuz happy. I dunno nuthin 'bout mah daddy er whar he went. I
hab no kin in dis worl'. All I eber yeard wuz dat all mah folks kum
fum Africa. Mah Missis would tell me dat I mus' be good en mine en
eb