African Diaspora at the Internet Archive: Spreadsheet (9)

Happy Friday, everybody! I'm still cruising along with the African folktales (and songs) spreadsheet: there are now over 6500 items from 100 different sources linked from the spreadsheet to the pages of books at the Internet Archive, everything just a click away! You can find it all at the African Diaspora Folktale Spreadsheet.

And, of course, the big African Folktale Spreadsheet is available also, with over 10,000 stories there. You can find out more about how the spreadsheets work here.

I've also started the process of picking out which books and articles will go into the Reader's Guide for these Diaspora resources, just like for the Reader's Guide to African Folktales at the Internet Archive. There will be some differences between them too: more articles as Diapora sources rather than being limited just to books, and probably more public domain stories to include too. Meanwhile, I'll keep blogging about books and updating here as I go along.

Here's a collage of just a few of the books that I've added recently to the sheet. So much great material, all available thanks to Controlled Digital Lending from the Internet Archive!

African Diaspora at Internet Archive: High John / John Henry

After Lester's knee-high man yesterday, I thought I would turn the tables and choose a big hero for the book today, so it's The Adventures of High John the Conqueror by Steve Sanfield.

These are the stories that you'll find in the book: Master's Walking Stick ~ Just Possum ~ You Better Not Do It ~ In a Box ~ Off Limits ~ John Wins a Bet ~ This One and That One ~ Who's the Fool Now? ~ George's Dream ~ Deer Hunting ~ John's Memory ~ Freedom ~ An Epidemic of Ducks ~ John in Court ~ Tops and Bottoms ~ The Christmas Turkey. Also be sure to check out the Introduction, along with the notes and bibliography in the back too.

The illustrations are by Wendell Hall. Look at that possum!

And here's John himself with the Mean Man of the Swamps (from the story "Freedom"):

I should note that the book is dedicated to two great African American folklorists, J. Mason Brewer and Zora Neale Hurston, both of whom I've written about before at this blog. :-)

Plus, you can find out more about the High John the Conqueror tradition at Wikipedia, and you can also find out more about Sanfield at Wikipedia too. 

Sanfield is also the author of a book about John Henry, which you can also find at the Internet Archive: A Natural Man: The True Story of John Henry.

It features illustrations by Peter Thornton:

So, two African American heroes to read about: enjoy!

The Adventures of High John the Conqueror

by Steve Sanfield

A Natural Man: The True Story of John Henry

by Steve Sanfield

African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Knee-High Man

After writing about Julius Lester's Black Folktales yesterday, I wanted to follow up today with another one of his books: The Knee-High Man and Other Stories.

This is a book aimed at a younger audience, and it features six different stories drawn from various sources (see Lester's note in the back of the book about the sources): What Is Trouble? ~ Why Dogs Hate Cats ~ Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Bear ~ Why the Waves Have ~ Whitecaps ~ The Farmer and the Snake ~ The Knee-High Man.

The illustrations are by Ralph Pinto. Here you can see Rabbit and Bear:

And here is the knee-high man of the book's title, getting schooled by an owl:

Plus of course I have to remind everybody that you can also access Julius Lester's masterpiece, the complete tales of Brer Rabbit ... with iillustrations by Brian Pinkney! ... at the Internet Archive too: The Complete Tales.

So, if the stories of rabbit and bear in this little book make you want to read some more animal stories, all the adventures of Brer Rabbit await you too. Enjoy!

The Knee-High Man and Other Stories

by Julius Lester

African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Black Folktales

After those two books from Richard Dorson, I wanted to share another "classic" book of African American folktales: Black Folktales by the great Julius Lester.

The stories are organized by themes: ORIGINS: How God Made the Butterflies ~ Why Apes Look Like People ~ Why Men Have to Work ~ How the Snake Got His Rattles ~ LOVE: The Girl With the Large Eyes ~ The Son of Kim-Ana-u-eze and the Daughter of the Sun and the Moon ~ Jack and the Devil's Daughter ~ HEROES: High John the Conqueror ~ Stagolee ~ PEOPLE: The Old Man Who Wouldn't Take Advice ~ People Who Could Fly ~ Keep on Stepping.

You might have already guessed from the cover that the illustrations are by the brilliant artist Tom Feelings! Here's his illustration for the story of God and the Snake:

And here's an illustration from the famous legend of the flying Africans:

You might remember Tom Feelings' work from this earlier post which featured two books of African folktales with his illustrations: When the Stones Were Soft by Eleanor Heady and Tales of Temba by Kathleen Arnott.

And of course this is not the first time I've written about Julius Lester before; back in May when I first started this project, I featured this book by Julius Lester: How Many Spots Does a Leopard Have?

And I'll be back with more from Julius Lester tomorrow! Meanwhile, enjoy this classic collection of African American folktales, and the illustrations too!

Black Folktales

by Julius Lester

African Diaspora at Internet Archive: American Negro Folktales

Yetserday I wrote about Richard Dorson's story collections from Arkansas and Michigan, which he published in 1958, and today I want to write about another, even bigger, collection that he published in 1967: American Negro Folktales.

This book contains over 250 folktales and, even more importantly, it was published as an affordable, mass market paperback for a general audience. That meant it reached a very wide audience back in the day, and it also means there are abundant used copies you can find at used booksellers too. The book is almost 400 pages long, and it was just 75 cents back in the day.

On the cover is one of my all-time favorite stories: it's Sam and the Mermaid! Even better: the book contains not one or two but three different versions of that story. I can't find the artist for the cover art credit anywhere, but it sure is a great cover!

Here is a listing of the chapter headings: Animal and Bird Stories ~ Old Master and John ~ Colored Man and White Man ~ Hoodoos and Two-Heads ~ Spirits and Hants ~ Witches and Mermaids ~ The Lord and the Devil ~ Wonders ~ Horrors ~ Protest Tales ~ Scare Tales ~ Fool Tales ~ Lying Tales ~ Preachers ~ Irishmen.

Many of these stories come from Dorson's work with storytellers in Arkansas and Michigan, but unlike the other book which was arranged in two parts geographically, and then by theme, this book is organized entirely by themes, so all the animal stories are together, all the ghost stories are together, etc. This book is dedicated to the memory of James Douglas Suggs, the remarkable storyteller in Michigan who told so many of the stories found in this book. You'll find Suggs's own life story included as part of the book.

As in the Arkansas/Michigan book, each story is accompanied by a preliminary note with comparative information and other commentary. For example:

The bibliography and commentary can then become a jumping-off point for further reading and research, including lots of materials available at the Internet Archive of course!

American Negro Folktales

by Richard Dorson

African Diaspora at Internet Archive: Arkansas and Michigan

After spending last week looking at Caribbean stories, I wanted to shift back to the African American storytelling traditions of the U.S., and I'll start with this great book by Richard Dorson which includes storytellers from the South and also from the North, following the Great Migration: Negro Tales from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and Calvin, Michigan, published in 1958.

You'll find 197 stories here, divided into two sections, with an introduction to each section, Arkansas and Michigan, where Dorson explains just how he collected the stories and who the storytellers were, along with a general introduction to the book as a whole. The stories are organized into categories: Animal and Bird Stories - Old Marster and John - Spirits and the Supernatural - Jocular Tales - Protest Tales - Scriptural Tales - Tall Tales - Riddles, etc. There is an index of motif and tale types and, even better, specific commentary about each story. For example, here is Dorson's commentary on one of the stories told by an Arkansas storyteller, Tobe Courtney:

You might remember Dorson from earlier posts at this blog. He was one of the great American folklorists of the 20th century, and he had a special interest in African traditions, as evidenced in this book that he edited: African Folklore. (Yep, that's the trickster rabbit there on the cover.)

The Internet Archive has MANY of his books available: Richard Dorson.

So, take a minute to browse and see what you find; Dorson's interests were wide-ranging, and his contributions to American folklore studies were immense. I was so glad to see lots of his books available at the Archive, and I'll have more from Dorson again tomorrow.

Negro Tales from Pine Bluff, Arkansas

and Calvin, Michigan,

by Richard Dorson