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Lucy Terry was only one of the black slaves in the town of Deerfield, Massachusetts, in the 18th century. Bought by Ebenezer Wells about 1730, she grew up in that town and married a free black man, Abijah Prince, in 1756. As a young girl, she was known as a storyteller. She could read and write, as seen by this poem, written to honor the members of the Deerfield families whom Lucy knew and who were killed, injured, or captured in the last attack on Deerfield by Native American people on August 25, 1746.