美国国家公共电台 NPR Woman Returns To Her Slave Cabin Childhood Home In The Smithsonian

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The National Museum of African-American History and Culture here in Washington has many artifacts connected to slavery. For one woman, visiting the museum this week was a literal homecoming. Isabell Meggett Lucas was born and raised in a wooden house in coastal¹ South Carolina. Slaves lived in that house during the 1800s.

The Smithsonian bought the structure and moved it plank² by plank to the new African-American Museum where it's now on display. Isabell Meggett Lucas is now in her 80s, and she joins us along with her sister-in-law, Emily Meggett. Thanks to you both for joining us.

ISABELL MEGGETT LUCAS: Thank you.

EMILY MEGGETT: Thank you.

SHAPIRO: Will you give me a little tour of the house? Imagine when your family was living there. If I walked in on a Saturday, what would I see? How big was it? How many people lived there? What was going on?

MEGGETT LUCAS: It was like four rooms.

MEGGETT: Yeah.

MEGGETT LUCAS: It wasn't but two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. We had wood stove, fireplace.

MEGGETT: No electric lights.

MEGGETT LUCAS: No electric, no plumbing³ or nothing, no dog (ph) house. It didn't have no window pane⁴. It was just shutters⁵ to the house. Wash - got to wash in the washing tub. You had to wash the clothes on the washing board, put it in the boiler⁶, let it boil then take the stick and take it out the boiler, put it in the rinsing⁷ water, rinse⁸ that and put it on the line.

SHAPIRO: Wow, that's a lot of work.

MEGGETT: That's a lot of work.

MEGGETT LUCAS: Yes. Then had to take the water, had a pump.

SHAPIRO: Got to carry the water from the pump?

MEGGETT: Yes.

MEGGETT LUCAS: Yes. There were four house, and the water - the pump is set between the four house.

SHAPIRO: How many people lived in that one house?

MEGGETT LUCAS: It's 11. And at night it's so hot. And my mother then sit on the porch. And we kids would play in the yard. And sometime it'd be moonshine, sometime it'd be dark. The mosquitos so bad and - that we'd get a tire and put a little rag in them and make smoke. We kids, we'd run through the smoke, playing back and forth⁹.

SHAPIRO: You'd create smoke to get rid of the mosquitoes, sort of an old-fashioned bug¹⁰ repellent?

MEGGETT LUCAS: Yeah. Yes. No spray like today.

SHAPIRO: I know that when you lived in this house, you were unaware¹¹ of its connection to slavery. Since you visited the museum, what have you learned about the experience of people who lived in this house before you?

MEGGETT LUCAS: I guess a rough time for them because it was rough for us, too. 'Cause my mother had to work. They had no nothing to do but farm work, no education. And I felt so bad for my mother when I grew up and see how she had to work and struggle to raise us - pregnant, had to go in the fields and work. And field work is hard. It's very hard.

But I give my mother and father thanks in the grave for her to bring us up and raise us. I don't think they ever thought that they lived in a slave cabin. I don't think that. I think that they - that was their home. And they felt comfortable there. And they felt happy there.

SHAPIRO: And so what was it like for you this week walking into the Smithsonian African-American History and Culture Museum and seeing your childhood home there on display?

MEGGETT LUCAS: It make me happy. And I'm pleased too, so.

SHAPIRO: Did people at the museum treat you like a celebrity¹²?

MEGGETT LUCAS: We was like queen (laughter).

SHAPIRO: Queen for a day?

MEGGETT LUCAS: We was the queen of Edisto.

SHAPIRO: Well, it's really been a pleasure talking with you. Thank you so much for taking the time.

MEGGETT LUCAS: Same here.

MEGGETT: Same.

SHAPIRO: That was Isabell Meggett Lucas and Emily Meggett speaking about Isabell's childhood home which is now in the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture.

1 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

2 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。

3 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 pane   

n.窗格玻璃，长方块

参考例句：

• He broke this pane of glass.他打破了这块窗玻璃。
• Their breath bloomed the frosty pane.他们呼出的水气，在冰冷的窗玻璃上形成一层雾。

5 shutters   

百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门

参考例句：

• The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。
• The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。

6 boiler   

n.锅炉；煮器(壶，锅等)

参考例句：

• That boiler will not hold up under pressure.那种锅炉受不住压力。
• This new boiler generates more heat than the old one.这个新锅炉产生的热量比旧锅炉多。

7 rinsing   

n.清水，残渣v.漂洗( rinse的现在分词 )；冲洗；用清水漂洗掉（肥皂泡等）；（用清水）冲掉

参考例句：

• Pablo made a swishing noise rinsing wine in his mouth. 巴勃罗用酒漱着口，发出咕噜噜噜的声音。 来自辞典例句
• The absorption of many molecular layers could be reestablished by rinsing the foils with tap water. 多分子层的吸附作用可用自来水淋洗金属箔而重新实现。 来自辞典例句

8 rinse   

v.用清水漂洗，用清水冲洗

参考例句：

• Give the cup a rinse.冲洗一下杯子。
• Don't just rinse the bottles. Wash them out carefully.别只涮涮瓶子，要仔细地洗洗里面。

9 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

10 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

11 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

12 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。