Drawing on a vast wealth of evidence - folktales, oral histories, religious rituals, and music - this book explores the pervasive if often unacknowledged influence of African traditions on American life.

Pt. I. The Comforts of Job. 1. Why God's Black Children Suffer. 2. "Das Duh Way Dey Ketch Um" -- Pt. II. No Simple Black Folk Here. 3. A Resistance Too Civilized to Notice. 4. The Aristocratic Heritage of Black America. 5. "Duh Root Doctuh Wuz All We Needed" -- Pt. III. Nigger in the Woodpile. 6. The Hidden Heritage of Mardi Gras. 7. The Mixed Bloodlines of the Early Ku Klux Klan. 8. Mammy, Indeed!