The Headless Haunt And Other African American Ghost Stories

A collection of ghost stories and anecdotes that are part of the folklore of African Americans.

More than fifteen tales from the oral tradition probably originally recorded in the 1920s and 1930s such as "The Haunted Stateroom, ""Black Tom, " and "The Ghost in the Back Seat."

Ghost stories have played a prominent role in childhood. Circulated around playgrounds and whispered in slumber parties, their history in American literature is little known and seldom discussed by scholars. This book explores the fascinating origins and development of these tales, focusing on the social and historical factors that shaped them and gave birth to the genre. Ghost stories have existed for centuries but have been published specifically for children for only about 200 years. Early on, supernatural ghost stories were rare--authors and publishers, fearing they might adversely affect young minds, presented stories in which the ghost was always revealed as a fraud. These tales dominated children's publishing in the 19th century but the 20th century saw a change in perspective and the supernatural ghost story flourished.

Winner • NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work (Fiction) Winner • Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Award Holiday Gift Guide Selection • Indiewire, San Francisco Chronicle, and Minneapolis Star-Tribune These nearly 150 African American folktales animate our past and reclaim a lost cultural legacy to redefine American literature. Drawing from the great folklorists of the past while expanding African American lore with dozens of tales rarely seen before, The Annotated African American Folktales revolutionizes the canon like no other volume. Following in the tradition of such classics as Arthur Huff Fauset’s “Negro Folk Tales from the South” (1927), Zora Neale Hurston’s Mules and Men (1935), and Virginia Hamilton’s The People Could Fly (1985), acclaimed scholars Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Maria Tatar assemble a groundbreaking collection of folktales, myths, and legends that revitalizes a vibrant African American past to produce the most comprehensive and ambitious collection of African American folktales ever published in American literary history. Arguing for the value of these deceptively simple stories as part of a sophisticated, complex, and heterogeneous cultural heritage, Gates and Tatar show how these remarkable stories deserve a place alongside the classic works of African American literature, and American literature more broadly. Opening with two introductory essays and twenty seminal African tales as historical background, Gates and Tatar present nearly 150 African American stories, among them familiar Brer Rabbit classics, but also stories like “The Talking Skull” and “Witches Who Ride,” as well as out-of-print tales from the 1890s’ Southern Workman. Beginning with the figure of Anansi, the African trickster, master of improvisation—a spider who plots and weaves in scandalous ways—The Annotated African American Folktales then goes on to draw Caribbean and Creole tales into the orbit of the folkloric canon. It retrieves stories not seen since the Harlem Renaissance and brings back archival tales of “Negro folklore” that Booker T. Washington proclaimed had emanated from a “grapevine” that existed even before the American Revolution, stories brought over by slaves who had survived the Middle Passage. Furthermore, Gates and Tatar’s volume not only defines a new canon but reveals how these folktales were hijacked and misappropriated in previous incarnations, egregiously by Joel Chandler Harris, a Southern newspaperman, as well as by Walt Disney, who cannibalized and capitalized on Harris’s volumes by creating cartoon characters drawn from this African American lore. Presenting these tales with illuminating annotations and hundreds of revelatory illustrations, The Annotated African American Folktales reminds us that stories not only move, entertain, and instruct but, more fundamentally, inspire and keep hope alive. The Annotated African American Folktales includes: Introductory essays, nearly 150 African American stories, and 20 seminal African tales as historical background The familiar Brer Rabbit classics, as well as news-making vernacular tales from the 1890s’ Southern Workman An entire section of Caribbean and Latin American folktales that finally become incorporated into the canon Approximately 200 full-color, museum-quality images

A comprehensive guide to multicultural literature for children, this valuable resource features more than 1,600 titles—including fiction, folktales, poetry, and song books—that focus on diverse cultural groups. The selected titles, pubished between the 1970s and 1990s are suitable for use with preschoolers through sixth graders and are likely to be found on the shelves of school and public libraries. Topics are timely, with an emphasis on books that reflect the needs and interests of today's children. Each detailed entry includes bibliographic information. Use level is also included, as are cultural designation, subjects, and a summary. The invaluable Subject Access section incorporates use level culture information.

This complete guide to youth readers' advisory covers genres, reading interests, and issues, as well as provides lists of sample titles and recommended reading. Finding children and 'tweens great books to read is still a key library service, even in the age of computers. Readers' Advisory for Children and 'Tweens is an easy-to-use, practical guide that will help any library staff member become more comfortable offering this service—and more adept at producing satisfying results. Beginning with basic advice on the readers' advisory interview, the book details how to find books for different age groups, including young children and their parents, emergent readers, transitional readers, and adept readers. It explores genre fiction for 'tweens, nonfiction, poetry and folklore, and graphic novels, and it offers techniques on promoting books and reading. Potentially sensitive issues such as book challenges, assisting English language learners, serving children from various cultures, working with teachers, and helping reluctant readers are addressed, as well. The advice is augmented with handy booklists and descriptions of dozens of websites that aid in youth readers' advisory.

Bestselling author and ghost historian MJ Wayland explores America's haunted heritage. As well as visiting some of the most famous ghost cases of the time, the author also uncovers ghost stories that have never seen print in over a hundred and fifty years! From the downright chilling, to scary and the weird, this collection of REAL ghost stories is ideal for a Halloween thrill or an insight into a unique haunted history. The real life ghost cases include: Faces in the Windows The Haunted Bedstead The Ghost Clock of Boston Poor Bessie Brown The Jonah Three Stories of Hauntings Good News for Ghosts Des Moines's Plague of Ghosts Shooting a Ghost A Live Spook The Return of Dr. Jewel Forbes Manor Ghosts in the Capitol Jonelle Lambkin Rings the Bell Mrs. Warfield's Haunted House Mumler's Spirit Photography Scared to Death by a Ghost The Bones of Timothy Felt A Ghost Hunt of Louisville The Ghost of Henry Smith Giant Ghost of Benton A Real life Daphne and Velma - Sixty Years Before! The Haunted Chamber Investigation of a haunted church The Haunting of Clara Robertson Hoffman Family Poltergeist Indiana Ghost Frenzy The Tipton Ghost An Indianapolis Haunted House Piano-Maker's Ghost The Restless Spirit of Flatbush Return of the Union Officer In Search of a Spectral Calf Unseen Terror of Dubuque The White Mountain Ghost of Lizzie Bourne A Seance Too Far Benjamin Stiver's Ghost Attack! The Big Joke Death by Ghost A Civil War Ghost Story AND MORE!"

"A careful selection of children's and young adult books with multicultural themes and topics which were published in the United States and Canada between 1991 and 1996"--Preface, p. vii.