Singing the Master - by Roger D Abrahams (Paperback)

About the Book

A controversial and radical interpretation of the most celebrated event on the Southern plantation: the corn-shucking ceremony. Relying on written accounts and oral histories of former slaves, Abrahams reconstructs this event and shows how the interaction of whites and blacks was adapted and imitated by whites in minstrel and vaudeville shows.

Book Synopsis

"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.

About the Author

Roger D. Abrahams was the Hum Rosen Professor of Humanities, Emeritus, at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the author and editor of a large number of books, including Everyday Life: A Poetics of Vernacular Practices, African Folktales: Traditional Stories of the Black World, African-American Folktales: Stories from Black Traditions in the New World, and Singing the Master: The Emergence of African-American Culture in the Plantation South.