“If a Man Ever Hits You Just Kill Him”

I have a lot of stories that I could tell you about my grandmother Myrtice Lewis (1915-2005). My grandmamma was a card—believe me. She was born in a little town called Shady Dale, Georgia. My grandmother didn’t take nothing from nobody! Anything she did, she did it as if she could’ve been born a man. She was real hard. She used to always tell my sisters and me that if a man ever hit us just to kill him, and then call her, and she would come get us out of jail. We would always say to her, “Grandma it isn’t that easy. We can’t just kill someone and you come get us!” Then she would say, “No, because I have a story for them. So, if you just kill them, I’ll get you out.” She was a great grandma. The thing I remember most is her always defending us. Even when it was against my mom and dad. She was always going to defend us.