African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Tales of the Congaree

After yesterday's post about the WPA collection of South Carolina folktales from the late 1930s, I wanted to follow up with the remarkable book, Tales of the Congaree by Edward C.L. Adams, in which Adams, a white doctor, reports stories tha the heard from his black patients in the vicinity of the Congaree River of South Carolina during the 1920s.

The book is a 1987 reprint of the two books that Adams published: Congaree Sketches in 1927 and Nigger to Nigger in 1928, with an introduction by Robert O'Meally. If you are curious about this book, make sure to read this introduction which does a great job of situating Adams' work in its historical context, with comparisons to Harlem Renaissance writers like Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes (including a meeting between Adams and Hughes in 1931). You can read more about Adams at the South Carolina Encyclopedia online.

There is a brilliant range of stories in this book, from traditional folktales to contemporary stories about life in South Carolina at the time, including accounts of Jim Crow, chain gangs, and even lynchings. Here is a list of the titles: The Big Swamps Of The Congaree ~ The Hopkins Nigger ~ Jonas ~ A Freshet On The Congaree ~ Hell Fire ~ The Rattlesnake ~ Sunning On The Golden Stairs ~ Judge Foolbird ~ Old Sister ~ Old Sister's Friends ~ Old Sister In Heaven ~ Old Sister In Hell ~ The Settin' Up ~ The Little Old Man On The Gray Mule ~ The Lake Of The Dead ~ Aunt Dinah's Cat ~ Murder Versus Liquor ~ Old Dictodemus ~ Jeff's Funeral Sermon ~ Fragment Of A Negro Sermon ~ His Day Is Done ~ Ole Man Rogan ~ Big Charleston ~ The Yellow Crane ~ White Folks Is White Folks ~ Wild Goose Nest ~ Transmigration ~ Belton's Spirit ~ The Animal Court ~ Ole Man Tooga's Chile ~ Fine My Chile ~ Purtty Little Folks ~ The Falling Star ~ Jay-Birds ~ Jack-Ma-Lantern ~ Ole Man Rouse ~ If You Want To Find Jesus ~ The Ghosts Of Elm Savannah ~ The Crow ~ Primus ~ Jumping-Gut ~ Cazenova ~ Spirit Dogs And Barking Snakes ~ Death Owl ~ De Law Got Simon ~ A Fool Nigger ~ The Two Ducks ~ The Mule And The Ox ~ That Quart Kept On Beckoning Me ~ Don't 'sturb A Houn' ~ Don't You Play Wid Married Wimmens ~ Tad's Advice To His Son ~ Old Sister's Advice To Her Daughter ~ Jesus Had Trouble All Over The World ~ Evil Sperrits ~ The Swamps ~ The Lonesome Hunter ~ The King Buzzard ~ An Escaped Convict ~ Goose Pond ~ Bannister Bridge ~ Big Annie ~ A Yellow Bastard ~ Joe ~ A Prison ~ The Hawk And The Rooster ~ Mensa ~ Magic ~ Jazy ~ The Turkey Hunt ~ Old Lady Beck ~ Red ~ Just One Time To Die ~ Becky ~ The Savage ~ Ruint ~ Edecation ~ Darlay ~ Brass Ankles ~ A Peacemaker ~ The Death As A Turkey Hunter ~ Lula ~ Old Man Jim Kinkade ~ The Water Hole ~ Pick ~ Sweet Chile ~ Drug Up ~ Tough ~ Thirteen Years ~ The Telephone Call ~ A Damn Nigger ~ The Lynchers ~ A Bottle Of Liquor ~ Old Mammy ~ A Good Looking Man ~ Three Doctors ~ A Fisherman ~ Land Rent ~ Loyalty ~ They Oughter Had A Sign On It ~ How To Kill An Owl ~ The Ventriloquist ~ The Courts ~ Ain't Never Own Niggers ~ Fundamentals ~ Tomper's Song ~ Old Moccasin's Ghost ~ The Ghost Of White Hall ~ The Angel Of Cow Pen Lake ~ The Smokehouse Angel ~ Tyu's Angel ~ But Rabbit In Red Hill Churchyard ~ Bur Jonas' Goat ~ The Rat ~ The Dance Of The Little Animals ~ The Spider And The Rabbit ~ A Roost On The Rim Of The Moon ~ The Frog And The Snake ~ The Monkey And The Elephant ~ gators And Snakes ~ The Bell-Ringing Rat ~ Cootas ~ A Jay Bird Thief ~ Allen's Idea Of Preachers ~ A Bit Of Correspondence ~ Two Prayers ~ God ~ Virgins ~ Old Brother Tries To Enter Heaven ~ The Harps Of God ~ Converted ~ The Bear Fight ~ Gullah Joe ~ A Slave ~ Old Man Hildebrand ~ The Slave Barn ~ The Wild River Shore ~ Silas ~ Ain't No Corn-Bread There ~ Sister Lucy ~ Rejoice Ye At Dey Goin' Out ~ Fragment Of A Funeral Sermon ~ Elizabeth Coleman ~ She's At Rest ~ Funeral Of A Brother ~ She Sleeps On A Hillside ~ The Galloping Hosts Of Heaven.

It's all waiting there at the Internet Archive, just a click away thanks to the power of Controlled Digital Lending.

Tales of the Congaree

by Edward C.L. Adams