“Picking cotton,” he responded, without any hesitation. “Man…it’s like knowing your history, knowing what our folks went through, and all of a sudden, having one of these cotton sacks in your hand.” He cupped his hand and then closed his fingers around the bag we were both imagining in his grasp. His knuckles were dark and cracked, and when he reopened his hand he rubbed the inside of his palm with his thumb. “I think that’s the biggest challenge more than anything else,” he continued. “Not the work but just the mindset of being there and knowing you’re kind of reliving history, in a sense.
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