African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Jackie Tales

To get the new week started (with a government holiday in honor of Juneteenth this Monday too!), I've got a fabulous book to share by the great storyteller Jackie Torrence: Jackie Tales: The Magic of Creating Stories and the Art of Telling Them.

You'll find sixteen stories here, including some Brer Rabbit! The Big Hairy Toe / The Yellow Ribbon / The Ring / Soldier Jack / Jack and Hardy Hardhead / Jack's Trip to Hell / Br'er Rabbit Builds a House / Br'er Possum's Dilemma / Br'er Rabbit Outsmarts the Frogs / The Baby Sale / Aunt Sally and Uncle Fifth / Dexter the Dog / Elvira and Henry / The Hairy Man / Honeyboy's Gift / The Monkey's Paw.

And one of the best features of this book are the MANY photographs of Jackie Torrence performing, giving you a sense of how she uses her body to help her tell the story:

Sadly, Jackie Torrence died in 2004 at age 60; you can read her obituary here in the LA Times: "Steeped in the lore of her Appalachian, Cherokee and African American heritage, Torrence told ghost stories, “Jack” stories about various adventures of the Jack of beanstalk fame, Uncle Remus tales and “jump” stories, which end with such a startling one-word twist they make the listener jump."

You can also find some Jackie Torrence videos at YouTube, like this one of the famous "Golden Arm" story:

So, read, listen, watch, and enjoy! I'll be back with some more from Jackie Torrence tomorrow. :-)

Jackie Tales: The Magic of Creating Stories

and the Art of Telling Them

by Jackie Torrence