You may have noticed that black folklore seems to be entering a pop culture moment. Whether you’re a lifelong folklore devotee, or, er, perhaps just discovering the rich breadth of stories our mythologies have to offer, you’re going to want to be able to keep up with the conversations The Culture’s about to start having. Conversations that are bound to be spurred by projects like The Rock’s newly announced “John Henry and the Statesmen” from Netflix, the return of characters like Anansi and Mama-Ji on Starz’s “American Gods,” and the movement on biopics about people like Harriet Tubman — real life heroes who, for better or worse, have ascended into American folkloric status.

Maybe you just found yourself going, “Mama-Ji who?” Don’t worry. There’s no shame here — just a thoroughly cultivated reading list that’ll get you up to speed on every kind of boo hag, br’er creature, obayifo, and tar baby there is. Because at Shondaland, you’re always part of the conversation.

Knopf "The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales" by Virginia Hamilton Read Now

Hamilton’s expansive set of folktales is the perfect introduction to a staple of African trickster characters, slave folklore, and the tradition of oral storytelling that black Americans have long held close. Perhaps most importantly, Hamilton provides a straightforward, blunt explanation of the origin and importance of black folklore in America, noting that while you’re having fun reading these stories you must remember, “these were once a creative way for oppressed people to express their fears and hopes to one another… We must look look on the tales as a celebration of the human spirit.”



Dodd "The Book of Negro Folklore" by Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps Read Now

It can be hard to get your hands on this essential volume from Hughes, and fellow Harlem Renaissance poet Bontemps — I had to “liberate” mine from my mother’s home, much like many of my first edition Hughes volumes. However, the content inside makes it worth whatever price you might find yourself paying for a copy. The men were semi-frequent collaborators over the years, and they both respected folklore as an important “branch of scholarship” worth preserving. Their collection is recorded mostly in dialect, and heavily emphasizes the importance the stories played in the survival of enslaved black people in the South and the Caribbean. In addition to adapted Aesop's fables, you’ll find sermons, gospel songs, ghost stories, and even old rhymes that evoke the songs and hand games you still might hear sung between black children on playgrounds to this day.

Amazon "Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-Tales from the Gulf States" by Zora Neale Hurston Read Now

Imagine if someone wrote down Tiffany Haddish’s hilarious swamp tour story for publication, but in the process “fixed” the grammar, phrasing, and added in some flourishes of their own for creative effect. The beats might remain the same — but it wouldn’t really be the story we've come to love. That’s the beauty of black oral storytelling; each story is unique to the person who tells it. Hurston understood that, and for that reason her anthropological collection of folk tales is truly something to behold. Unlike Hamilton who compiled her stories as retellings in her own voice, Hurston’s stories are all written down exactly as she heard them. Written in a variety of Southern black dialects, the stories range from a few paragraphs each to several pages, and cover a range of topics. And while reading in dialect can be challenging at first, and the repeated phrasing (which often happens in oral storytelling) takes a moment to adjust to, the tales of gullible "massas," adapted Grimms stories, God, the Devil, and even some 19th century "yo momma" jokes, are worth any slow start you might have.

Amazon "Encyclopedia of Black Folklore and Humor" by Henry D. Spalding Read Now

Compiled in the 1970s, this encyclopedia has been called a “landmark” addition to Black Americana. It is, indeed, thorough and packed with enough information that I considered it another collection worthy of “liberation” from my childhood home. It deals with much of the same content as Hughes and Bontemps’ effort, compiling everything from stories of iron man John Henry to recipes passed down through slave quarters and old spirituals. While I would be hesitant to recommend that this collection written by a white journalist be the only black folklore book on your shelf, it absolutely pairs well with any of the other collections suggested, and its specific additional focus on humor adds a new layer to the stories explored.

Dial Books "Uncle Remus: The Complete Tales" by Julius Lester Read Now

Honestly, all of Lester’s folktale retellings — including his amazing picture book — should be on your shelf. The author, academic, and civil rights activist was a prolific writer of children’s books and chronicler of black folklore. This, Lester's first Br’er Rabbit book, is a retelling of the original stories (authored by Joel Chandler Harris, and based on the stories he collected from freed black Americans) with added modern allusions that update the tales while still keeping them grounded in their Southern roots. While technically a children’s book, the variety of stories and accompanying gorgeous illustrations make it a collection that will stay on your shelf well into adulthood.

Amazon "The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural" by Patricia C. McKissack Read Now

Once again, oral tradition was the driving force behind this collection of stories “rooted in African-American history.” Rather than retelling existing folktales, McKissack takes her inspiration from a wide range of sources, everything from paintings that depict the cruelty of slavery, to Yoruba beliefs, and crafts chilling stories meant to be told to children at the “dark thirty" — that half hour of twilight just before darkness and monsters emerge. “The Woman in the Snow,” a Montgomery Bus Boycott ghost story, has always been a favorite of mine (or it could just be that it scared me so much as a kid that I’ve never been able to shake it). The tale stands out for its careful balance of history and the supernatural, and calls to mind all the black folklore episodes of “Supernatural” I’ve dreamt up over the years. If you’re looking for a good scare during this spooky season, “The Dark Thirty,” is your jam.

Amazon "Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales" by Virginia Hamilton Read Now

Two years after "The People Could Fly", Hamilton returned to black folklore with a collection of stories for black girls. Her retelling of the Creole fable, “The Talking Eggs” is a standout from my own childhood (along with Robert D. San Souci’s “ ” picture book, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney). “Macie and Boo Hag,” is the perfect bedtime tale for any child — it'll give a delightful fright while also instilling the importance of preserving tradition and storytelling. The "True Tales" section is, perhaps, what makes “Her Stories” most unique in its genre. Following in the tradition of women like Zora Neal Hurston, Hamilton ends her anthology with three "true" folk stories collected directly from black women themselves. As 110-year-old Lettice Boyer says, “I was here when Nat [Turner] rose up, when the stars fell down, when the war come in, when the Surrender was, when it was the earthquake, and I’m still here.” If that doesn’t make you want to read on, I’m not sure what will.

Amazon "John Henry Days" by Colson Whitehead Read Now

This is, technically, a novel, but if you read Whitehead’s stunning "The Underground Railroad" then you know he excels at storytelling through tale tales, folk stories, and outright myths — weaving them together to create one of the most unique looks on American slavery in recent years. In 2009, did he same with John Henry— the legendary steel driving hero who was challenged to beat the work of a steam powered drilling engine, and did so, but at the cost of his own life. Splitting his time between Henry and a modern day journalist sent to cover a John Henry Day festival in Virginia, “John Henry Days” explores the ways the struggle of “man vs. machine” has evolved since the fateful day when technology bested the iron man of myth. Like so much of Whitehead’s work the narrative is, overall, a thoughtful meditation on race, mythology, and history in America, with a dash of satire and humor thrown in too.

Amazon "The Annotated African American Folktales" by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Maria Tatar Read Now

As the title of Virginia Hamilton’s first anthology suggests, the idea of flying has long been important in African American folklore. It was the best, most hopeful route out of slavery and towards freedom in the North. But until Gates’ and Tartar’s folklore tomb, I’d not scraped the surface of just how many “flying African” stories there are, or fully wrapped my head around their origins. The number of stories in this collection — ranging from the flying Africans, several Anansi trickster tales, to witches, and an attempt to grapple with the politics and origins of the tales included — and the detailed annotated notes included, make this the perfect collection for newbies and folklore enthusiasts alike.

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