Lenny Summers was born circa 1880. Both of his parents were former slaves. His family's life had been hard even before he was born; his mother was born in a cotton field and immediately confiscated by the overseer from her own mother. When the Civil War ended, the overseer continued harassing Lenny's grandmother, who eventually killed him with a knife and subsequently fled, narrowly avoiding a lynching. The girl never saw her mother again, but she eventually met and married Mr. Summers, who woul