Folklore, memoirs, and other writings

MULES AND MEN

Part 1. Folk tales

John and the frog

Witness of the Johnstown flood in heaven

How the brother was called to preach

How the preacher made them bow down

Pa Henry's prayer

How the church came to be split up

Why negroes are black

Why women always take advantage of men

Sue, Sal and that pretty Johnson gal

The quickest trick

How to write a letter

A fast horse

Ah'll beatcher makin' money

The workinest pill you ever seen

How Jack beat the devil

John Henry

Ole massa and John who wanted to go to heaven

Massa and the bear

Why the sister in black works hardest

De reason niggers is working so hard

Deer hunting story

Big talk

The first colored man in massa's house

What smelled worse

The fortune teller

How the negroes got their freedom

The turtle-watch

From pine to pine Mr. Pinkney

God an' de devil in de cemetery

Praying for rain

Kill the white folks

Member youse a nigger

You think I'm gointer pay you but I ain't

Why the mocking bird is away on Friday

Man and the catfish

How the snake got poison

How the woodpecker nearly drowned the whole world

How the possum lost the hair off his tail

How the 'gator got his mouth

How Brer 'Gator got his tongue worn out

How the 'gator got black

How Brer Dog lost his beautiful voice

What the rabbit learned

The goat that flagged a train

Shooting up hill

Tall hunting story

The hawk and the buzzard

Why they always use rawhide on a mule

Why we have gophers

How God made butterflies

How the cat got nine lives

The son who went to college

Why the waves have whitecaps

How the lion met the king of the world

Sermon by travelling preacher

Card game

Ella Wall

Ah'm gointer loose dis right-hand shackle from 'round my leg

Strength test between Jack and the devil

Why the porpoise has his tail on crossways

Why the dog hates the cat

How the devil coined a word

How jack o'lanterns came to be

Why the East Coast has mosquitoes and storms

How a loving couple was parted

All these are mine

How the squinch owl came to be

The talking mule

High walker and bloody bones

Fight at Pine Mill

Part 2. Hoodoo

Origin of Hoodoo

Eulalia : ritual to get a man

Turner and Marie Leveau

Marie Leveau : confounding an enemy

Marie Leveau : putting on curse

Turner : initiation ceremony

Turner : routine to keep a husband true

Anatol Pierre

Ritual : initiation ceremony

Ritual : to make a death

Ritual : to swell with a brick

Father Watson

Ritual : initiation ceremony

Ritual : to punish

Ritual: to get a person out of the house

Ritual : to keep a person down

Ritual : getting the black cat bone

Dr. Duke

Ritual : to help a person in jail

Ritual : to silence opposing witnesses

Ritual : to uncross

Ritual : to send away

Dr. Jenkins

Concerning the dead

Conjure stories

Kitty Brown

Ritual : ceremonial dance to put away a man

Ritual : to make love stronger

Ritual : to bring a lover back

Ritual : to rule the man you love

Glossary [includes Jack or John, woofing, testimony, John Henry, Long house, Blue baby, Georgia skin game]

[Appendix] I. Negro songs with music : John Henry ; East Coast blues ; Please don't drive me ; Cold rainy day ; Going to see my long-haired babe ; Can't you line it? ; There stands a blue bird ; Mule on de mount ; Let the deal go down

[Appendix] II. Formulae of Hoodoo doctors

[Appendix] III. Paraphernalia of conjure

[Appendix] IV. Prescriptions of root doctors

; TELL MY HORSE

Part 1. Jamaica

The rooster's nest

Curry goat

Hunting a wild hog

Night song after death

Women in the Caribbean

Part 2. Politics and personalities of Haiti

Rebirth of a nation

The next hundred years

The black Joan of Arc

Death of Leconte

Part 3. Voodoo in Haiti

Voodoo and the voodoo gods

The Isle of La Gonave

Archahaie and what it means

Zombies

Sect rouge

Parlay cheval ou (Tell my horse)

Graveyard dirt and other poisons

Doctor Reser

God and the Pintards

[Appendix] I. Songs of worship to voodoo gods : Maitresse Ersulie ; Féraille ; Rada ; Janvalo (Jean Valdo)

Saint Jacques ; Petro ; Ibo ; Damballa ; Ogoun ; Salongo ; Loco ; Mambo Isan ; Dambala ; Agoë (Agoué te royo) ; Sobo ; Ogoun

[Appendix] II. Miscellaneous songs : Sect rouge ; Chant beginning all rada ceremonies ; La mystérieuse, méringue / A.L. Duroseau ; Etonnement, méringue caractéristique / A. Herandez ; Bonne humeur, méringue Haitïenne / Arthur L. Duroseau ; Olga, méringue par / Arthur Lyncíe Duroseau ; Chanson de Calicot ; La douceur

; DUST TRACKS ON A ROAD

My birthplace

My folks

I get born

The inside search

Figure and fancy

Wandering

Jacksonville and after

Back stage and the railroad

School again

Research

Books and things

My people! My people!

Two women in particular

Love

Religion

Looking things over

Appendix : My people! My people! ; Seeing the world as it is ; The inside light: being a salute to friendship ; Concert

; SELECTED ARTICLES

The Eatonville anthology

How it feels to be colored me (from Negro : an anthology) : Characteristics of negro expression ; Conversions and visions ; Shouting ; Mother Catherine ; Uncle Monday ; Spirituals and neo-spirituals

Works-in-progress for Florida Federal Writers' Project, "The Florida Negro, 1938" : Folklore and music ; Negro mythical places ; The Ocoee riot ; The sanctified church ; Art and such

Stories of conflict : Richard Wright's "Uncle Tom's Children"

The "pet negro" system

High John de Conquer

Negroes without self-pity

My most humiliating Jim Crow experience

The rise of the begging joints

Crazy for this democracy

What white publishers won't print

Court order can't make races mix

Chronology.