Shuckin}}} and Jivin}}} Folklore from Contemporary Black Americans [Paperback]

... a rare combination of inclusiveness and honesty.... cogent introduction[s]... confirm the central point of the tales: a search for cultural identity and freedom. First-rate. Library Journal

... deserves a place alongside the classic collection of Negro tales, Mules and Men. Folktales are the stories people tell, and Shuckin and Jivin presents a splendid representative sheaf of the stories black Americans of all social classes tell today.... Professional folklorists will applaud Dances candor and scholarly rigor. Richard M. Dorson

An exciting new collection of Black American folklore, running the gamut from anecdotes concerning life among the slaves to obviously contemporary jokes. In their frank expression of racial attitudes and unexpurgated wit, these tales represent a radical departure from earlier collections.

Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. In the Beginning: Etiological Tales
2. I Raised Hell While I Was There: Tales of Heaven and Hell
3. Dese Bones Gon Rise Again: Ghost Tales
4. Somebody Clapped for Edith Las Night: Conjure Tales
5. I Hears de Call: Tales about Religion
6. A Nigger Aint Shit: Self-Degrading Tales
7. Oh, Lord, Will I Ever? The White Woman and the Black Man
8. I Could Eat Her Up: Tales about Women
9. Be True to Me: Tales about Marital Infidelity
10. Goldstein, Pat, Mike, and the Like: Ethnic Jokes
11. The White Man Is the Devil: Tales about the Cruelty of Whites
12. The Bottom Rail Comes to Be the Top Riser: Outsmarting Whitey
13. Im A Bad Motherfucker: Tales of the Bad Nigger
14. Down in the Jungle, Out on the Farm: Miscellaneous Animal Tales
15. Are You Ready for This? Miscellaneous Risque Tales
16. A Potpourri: Miscellaneous Black Folklore

Biographies of Major Contributors
Annotations