Singing the master : the emergence of African American culture in the plantation South
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Singing the master : the emergence of African American culture in the plantation South
（Penguin books）
Penguin, 1993, c1992
- : pbk
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Note
First published: [U.S.] : Pantheon Books, 1992
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
"Impressive...A scrupulously researched work enlarging our understanding of an integral aspect of slave culture."--The Washington Post Book World
What was it like to be a slave on a plantation of the antebellum South? How did the fiction of the happy slave and myth of the plantation "family" evolve? How did slaves create a performance style that unified them, while simultaneously entertaining and mocking the master?
The answers to these questions may be found in the groundbreaking study of the corn-shucking ceremonies of the prewar South, where white masters played host to local slaves and watched their "guests" perform exuberant displays of singing and dancing. Drawing on the detailed written and oral histories of masters, slaves, and Northern commentators, distinguished folklorist Roger Abrahams peels through layers of racism and nostalgia surrounding this celebration to uncover its true significance in the lives and imagination of both blacks and whites - and in the evolution of an enduring African-American culture.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
ONE "Ain't You Gwine to the Shucking of the Corn?"
TWO Orders within Order: Cavalier and Slave Culture on the Plantation
THREE An American Version of Pastoral
FOUR Festive Spirit in the Development of African American Style
FIVE Signifying Leadership on the Plantation
SIX Powerful Imitations
Coda: Freedom Mighty Sweet
Notes
APPENDIX I: The Corn-Shucking Accounts
APPENDIX II: Accounts from Interviews with Ex-Slaves
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"