Black Paul Bunyan?
Being from the land of Paul Bunyan, anytime he shows up in a headline my eyes are immediately drawn. But this article also plays to several other deeply held interests of mine - archaeology and literature.
Apparently, Venture Smith, a one-time slave turned free man, provided his life narrative to a schoolteacher who wrote it down. In this slave narrative, Smith related stories of his life which included "fabulous feats of strength," including wielding a 9-pound ax and carrying a barrel of molasses for two miles on his back. Hence, the Bunyan analogy.
I look forward to reading what the archaeologists studying his remains find out. Can stories of his extraordinary strength be corroborated by DNA evidence? Or are they just fabrications of a former slave looking to bolster his rep? In either case, it's a fascinating bit of American history. For my part, I hope Smith was every bit as legendary as his narrative purports.