Black culture and black consciousness : Afro-American folk thought from slavery to freedom / Lawrence W. Levine. PRINT

Includes bibliographical references (pages 447-505) and index.

The sacred world of black slaves -- The meaning of slave tales -- Freedom, culture, and religion -- The rise of secular song -- Black laughter -- A pantheon of heroes.

When this book first appeared in 1977, it marked a revolution in the understanding of African American history. Contrary to prevailing ideas at the time, which held that African culture disappeared quickly under slavery and that black Americans had little group pride, history, or cohesiveness, the author uncovered a rich and complex African American oral tradition, including songs, proverbs, jokes, folktales, and long narrative poems called toasts--work that dated from before and after emancipation. The fact that these ideas and sources seem so commonplace now is in large part due this book and the scholarship that followed in its wake. A landmark work that was part of the "cultural turn" in American history, this book profoundly influenced an entire generation of historians.