Includes bibliographical references.

Foreword: The politics of "Negro folklore" / by Henry Louis Gates Jr. -- Introduction: Recovering a cultural tradition / by Maria Tatar -- AFRICAN TALES. Making sense of the world with Anansi : stories, wisdom, and contradiction -- Figuring it out : facing complications with dilemma tales -- Adding enchantment to wisdom : fairy tales work their magic -- Telling tales today : oral narratives from Africa -- AFRICAN AMERICAN TALES. Defiance and desire : flying Africans and magical instruments -- Fears and phobias : witches, hants, and spooks -- Speech and silence : talking skulls and singing tortoises -- Silence and passive resistance : the tar-baby story -- Kindness and treachery : slipping the trap -- Joel Chandler Harris and the Uncle Remus tales -- Folklore from the Southern Workman and the Journal of American Folklore -- Folktales from The Brownies' Book -- Zora Neale Hurston collects African American folklore -- Lessons in laughter : tales about John and Old Master -- How in the world? : pourquoi tales -- Ballads : heroes, outlaws, and monkey business -- Artists, pro and con : preacher tales -- Folkloric cousins abroad : tales from Caribbean and Latin American cultures -- Something borrowed, something blue : fairy tales -- Prefaces to collections and manifestos about collecting African American lore -- Poets and philosophers remember stories : meditations on African American lore -- IMAGE GALLERY: Tale-telling sites : at home and in common spaces -- Tale-telling sites : places of labor -- Illustrated poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar -- Joel Chandler Harris and the Uncle Remus tales.