From the cane-fields of the ante-bellum south, the villages of the Caribbean islands, and the streets of contemporary inner cities, here are more than one hundred tales from an incredibly rich and affirmative storytelling tradition (Choice). Full of life, wisdom, and humor, these tales range from the earthy comedy of tricksters to stories explaining how the world was created and got to be the way it is, to moral fables that tell of encounters between...

12.5 million Africans were shipped to the New World during the Middle Passage. While just over 11.0 million survived the arduous journey, only about 450,000 of them arrived in the United States. The rest, over ten and a half million, were taken to the Caribbean and Latin America. This astonishing fact changes the entire picture of the history of slavery in the Western hemisphere, and of its lasting cultural impact. These millions of Africans created...