African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Folklore from Contemporary Jamaicans

Since I've been sharing Caribbean books this week (Grace Hallworth, James Berry, and more), I wanted to share this great book by Daryl Cumber Dance today: Folklore from Contemporary Jamaicans, just a click away at the Internet Archive.

There is a wonderful range of material here which Dance collected in Jamaica in the late 1970s; origin stories, Anansi stories, Duppy tales, Big Boy tales, religious and Rastafarian tales, riddles, rhymes, songs, and children's games. These links go straight to the specific page at the Archive: Jet Black / How We Get Black / Dat's Pe-e-r-fick / Why the Black Man is Black / The Creation of the Negro / Why the Black Man Has to Work Hard / Mango and Orange / Congo and Nago / Sorrel / Why Satan Did Not Learn to Blow Breath / Cork di Pot, Man / Bird Cherry Island / Why Dawg Hate Puss / The Bone Sweet / Bredda Anandy and Bredda John Crow / Anancy and Monkey / The Tar Banana Tree / Mi Waan' Bulla / Anancy is Riding-Horse / Tacuma Wins the Girl / Gashany Bull / Escaping Soldiers / Dis Yah One Ya Bal' / Town Mouse and Country Mouse / Dem Caan' Call Me Rat / The Ugliest Man Mus' Wash Up / Tumpa-Tail Mare / Baad Sarah / Don't Go Out Late Time of Night / A Sign from Daddy / Tiger Work pon Rolling Calf / If I Ketch 'im I Kill 'im / I am Not Going to Play Tonight / Duppy Incident / Dis Man Look Like a Duppy Man / Young Gal Will Carry You in a Trouble / Too Kind, Too Cruel / Right Now, Right Now / Nobody Res' Here / Wait for Mi Now / Pretty, Pretty Moon a Fell Down 'pon Me / The Automobile-e-e-e a Come / It Come Out, It Go In / Tilli-Lip / Never You Sleep in Dead Solomon Room / The Incident at Albion House / I Am di Ghost of Crickety-Crocket / E-G-G (multiple versions) / Miami (multiple versions) / Jesus Christ (multiple versions) / Half Idiot (multiple versions) / Come On, Baby, Let's Go-Go-Go-o! / Jesus Going into Jerusalem / Gorilla Eat Banana / What Yu Want, big Boy / Red Ackee (multiple versions) / Frying / A Nud So Mama Sleep / Mummy Never Sleep in Clothes / The Boys Are Throwing Stones (multiple versions) / The New Bell / Gi' Mi di Ting pon di Table / A duck fi a Fuck / Ah Worm is Tickling Me / Can I Drive My Little Mini? (multiple versions) / Keep on Buyin gMissa Mac Candle / It Have Teeth / When You a Fuck My Moder / Big Boy Bruk Him Behin' / Flying to Heaven (multiple versions) / Every Member to Carry His Own Spirit / Now We Will Gather at the River / Rum Will Kill Out All the Worms / Corner, Parson / Abraham, Abraham, What Is in Your Bosom? / Shoo! / Puss / Give Me Even One / Put Pepper in the Pot / You Tink a Mi One a Sinner? / Take Me as a Yam / I' Holey Holey, but I' Clean / I Feel / Hallelujah / A Fly Is on Your Hose / You have Any? / God, Heaven Post Office / God Rob Me / Hearken unto My Voice (multiple versions) / Love Selassie-I / Blessing Chalice / I Fell Like I Want Run / Rastafari Drop from Sky (multiple versions) / Lucky Me Never Step inna It / Rape, Rape, Rape / They Shall Stumble and Fell / Lawd Jesus Chris'! / Born fi Heng, Caan' Drown / Nine-Finger Jack / Do Good, Do Good / Running to Catch the Tree / How Black People Got Meat during Slavery / Live Log / The Groom Is a Snake (multiple versions) / If You Nuh Gi Mi One Hackee / Tek Me, Nuh Tek Me / Big Head, Big Belly, and Little Foot (multiple versions) / Cutthroat, Chawfine, and Suckblood / Get di Brush, Get di Paint / Green Grass Grows pon Me Grave / Granny Cow / Ronnie the Bear / Him Go a Foreign / Man from Mocho / You Must Have Cried a Lot / Hijack / Nutty Buddy / A Pipe Rooster, Please / The Way to Pigley Park? / Mr Cashew Cat / You Are Full Lawyer / We Are Trying Our Best / Imitating Monkey / Gun Grows / Piss-pot / One, Two, Three, and a Span (multiple versions) / Mix-up / The Escape New Bottom / One Pound, One Shoe / Hu-Hu-Huor Fader (multiple versions) / Mi Never 'Peak nor 'Poke / Mi Nuh See di 'Poon / The Blind Man and the Deaf Man (multiple versions) / Wake Up and Sing / Di Man a Hold Mi / The Moon? The Sun? / Every Parish Have Dem Own Moon / Ole Bar Tick / Me Never Even Know Him Sick / Di Same Puss, Sah / If Me Dead, Me Dead / Anyting You Ask God For / My Grace Me a Say / It's the Plumber / OOOOOO / Awhoo Dat! / Duck Calls Names / Jamaican Apples / It's Raining / Steal / The Lord Is My Shepherd / Kuffum, Kuffum / Him Out fi Bed You / The Cow Should Blow His Horn / You Goin' Dead wid You Foot Skin Up / 3-F / Marie Has a Crack / Me Want What You Give Me / Water on Wood / What Is Rass? / That's against the Law / When I Lif', You Grab (multiple versions) / Tack Soup / Fader Forsythe (multiple versions) / The Wheel Just Stop / Him Stop the Plane / Ease Me Up / Row, Row, Row Your Boat / Lef the Water Heng Up / Riddle, Riddle / Chin, Cherry Bear / Chin Cherry, Uphill / What Is Green like Grass? / The Shirt pon Mi Back / There Is a Cup / I Went up Jingle Jangle 'Ill / My Fader Has Many Wives / My Father Has Three Children / What a Chicken Have? / Cornmeal and Flour / Why Aeroplane? / Why Lightpost? / Hell a Top / One Mawning / Mi Father Has Many Money / Fader Have Twelve / Why Did Paul? / Whitey Whitey Send Whitey Whitey / What Is it? / What Goes In? / I Wnet up Jingle Jangle 'Ill / London Bridge / Ole England / Red een, Red out / Which Bus? / Riddle Me Dis / My Father Have a Horse / Around the Corner / Diggle Daggle / Why Does a Tailor? / Why Do Birds? / What Goes into the Fridge Hot? / Send Boy Go Call Doctor / Riddle, Riddle / Going up a Hill / It's in Jamaica / Cain and Abel / The Lord Is My Shepherd / Hail Mary / Our Father Who Art in Heaven / Forty Days and Forty Nights / String Pop, Baggy Drop / For Health and Strength / Every Night / Queen Victoria / If You White, You Qutie All Right / I Am a Man from Back a Wall / I Am a Gal from Back a Wall / Bulla Is a Noun / Line a Banana / Mi Name Johnny Flower / Hot, Hot Patty / Popeye the Sailor Man / Haile Selassie / I Married to a Millionaire / The Way You Spell Japan / The Way You Spell Mathematics / Once Upon a Time (multiple versions) / Engine, Engine Number Nine / Three Little Monkeys / Rain a Fall / Mosquito One (multiple versions) / No Beer / Chinee, Chinee / Down by the Creek / Aunti Monica / Will You Marry Me? / Mango Time / Run, Mongoose / Sweetie Charlie / Hold 'Em, Joe / Colon Man a Come / Mek an Tell You When the Worl' Is Made / If You Want to Hear Duppy Laugh / A Duppy / Missa Ramgoat / Oman Is a People / The Cake Couldn't Bake / While Shepherds Washed Their Socks / My Soul Shall Fly / Mr. Kennedy Is Now Dead / Shearer in the Garden Hiding / Ride Him, Shearer / Manley Row the Boat Ashore / Keep Us from Counter Flour / Blessed Assurance / We Three Kings (multiple versions) / Missa Potta / There Is a Bulla Shop / Trust and Don't Pay / Mi No Get No White Rum / All Hail the Power / There's a Boarding School / One More Day / Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory / Happy Birthday to You / Sister Joy / Sister Potter (multiple versions) / Manuel Road (multiple versions) / Shine-Eye Gal / Right through, Right through the Rocky Road / Poor Mass Charlie / Stagolee / Zuzuwah / It's a Very Fine Motion / My Boyfriend Is a Sailor / Come Out and Play with Me / Mary Mack / Yes, No, Maybe So / Tell Me the Name of the B-o-y / Ride Him, Jackie / Donna, Donna / I Went Downtown One Day / A Room for Rent (multiple versions) / Stars Shining / When You Set the Table / Down by the Ocean / Cinderella, Cinderella / Christopher Columbus / 1, 2, 3 Jamaica / Auntie Lou / Children, Children / Little Miss Lulu / Mawning, Buddy / You Do the Cha-Cha-Cha / What Johnny Was One.

And as you make your way through these wonderful materials, you might find this reference book to be useful too: Dictionary of Jamaican English by Frederic Cassidy:

This dictionary does a great job of explaining Jamaican English vocabulary, including information about the many words and phrases which are African in origin. You can combine that with the search power of the Internet Archive too; so, for example, here are Yoruba words in the dictionary:

Daryl Cumber Dance is also the author of some wonderful books about African American folklore too, so I'll be back with more of her books next time, and you can read more about her life and work at Wikipedia. And for now, explore the stories of Jamaica, just a click away, thanks to the power of Controlled Digital Lending.

Folklore from Contemporary Jamaicans

by Daryl Cumber Dance

Dictionary of Jamaican English

by Frederic Cassidy