After writing about Zora Neale Hurston yesterday, I want to write about a great contemporary storyteller, Lyn Ford, who has written these two beautiful books inspired by her family's storytelling traditions: Affrilachian Tales: Folktales From the African-American Appalachian Tradition and Beyond the Briar Patch: Affrilachian Folktales, Food, and Folklore.
These books were two of my favorite discovering when I was doing some intensive Brer Rabbit research back in the summer of 2019 (you can see the results here: Brer Rabbit: Tales of a Trickster).
It was my first encounter with this brilliant term: Affrilachian. You can find out more about Lyn Ford and her "home-fried tales" at her website: StorytellerLynFord.com
One of my favorite things about her books is the way the sense of family tradition comes shining through. So many of the books of stories that I've written about at this blog have been decontextualized from their tellers and audiences, but Lyn Ford's books are filled with her presence and her family's presence. They are a perfect delight to read!
Here is a list of the stories in the two books:
Affrilachian Tales. Possum and Snake /
Why Possum's Tale is Bare /
Frog and Rabbit /
Fox and Old Man Turtle /
Turtle Wants to Fly /
Why Dog Chases Cat /
Look Every Which-A-Way /
Hyena and the Big Cheese /
Spider and Snake /
The Sing /
Three Suitors /
Oh, John, No! /
No Fishin' on Sunday /
Sistah Sarah Mae /
No, I'm Not! /
Jack and the Old Woman /
Zuri Killed Me /
A Bedtime Story
Beyond the Briar Patch. The Happy Place /
Turtle and Rabbit /
Grasshopper and the Ants /
Fox and Crow /
Mrs. Turtle's Cooking Pot /
Pig's Nose /
Papa Turtle and Monkey /
Rabbit and Fox at the Well /
Rabbit and Lion at the Well /
Clever Jackie /
Josephus /
John: The Baby /
John: Pig and Possum /
John: The Handsomeest Man in the World /
Old John and Death /
The Devil and the Farmer's Wife /
John and the Devil /
Jack Finds His Fear /
Siftin' Sand /
A Sense of Place and Time
Lyn Ford also has some videos at YouTube too! Here's one: her version of Rumpelstiltskin, "By Another Name."
So, these beautiful books await you at the Internet Archive, and you might be inspired to learn more about Affrilachian culture as a result; here's the Wikipedia article to get started.
by Lyn Ford
by Lyn Ford
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