Clayton Bates
Clayton Bates was born in 1907, in Fountain Inn, South Carolina. As a young boy, he worked in the cotton fields and his mother was a nurse for a white family. Clayton hated his job though, and his true love was dancing. Some days, he would secretly go to the local barber shop and dance for the rich white men for some extra money, until one day when his mother found out and dragged him home. Clayton always went back though, because he loved the extra money, and most of all, he loved to dance. At the age of eleven, Clayton got sick of his job in the cotton fields. He claimed that the job "wasn't 9 to 5, it was can to cant". He pleaded with his mother to let him go to work in the cottonseed mill, but she wouldn't let him because she felt he was too young to be working in a dangerous factory. After enough reasoning his mother agreed to let him go to work in the cottonseed mill, where he worked on top of a cottonseed pile. His job was to push the cottonseed so that it flowed down into the conveyor, where it was ground into meal. On only his second day at the job, Clayton slipped and fell into the conveyor with the cottonseed and fell into the auger, which crushed his leg and 2 fingers on his
Even in the 1990s, Bates was still in demand, although he could no longer dance like he used to. More often he would talk to children about never giving up, no matter what life throws their way. In 1995, "Peg Leg" returned to perform a show called "This Joint is Jumpin' ". Bates also accomplished such tasks as setting up a black resort called the Bates Country Club, in Kerhonskon, New York because there weren't many resorts in the area that allowed blacks in. For close to forty years Bates performed at his country club, greeting guests at the door before each show. Clayton refused to let this slow him down, and with a wooden peg leg his uncle made for him, he ran five miles every day, jumping over ditches and whatever obstacles he met. After close to a year and a half, Clayton was able to run and dance just like he used to, and he refused to let anyone pity him for his disability. Soon after his accident Clayton was back to his dancing, and was now known by everyone, even his mother, as "Peg Leg". "Peg Leg" began joining traveling dance shows. Sadly, most of the traveling shows closed down quickly after he joined. Clayton now experienced the racial segregations of the United States at this time. "Peg Leg" even had to wear black face paint during performances, so people would think he was a white man.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 904
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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