Talk That Talk: An Anthology of African-American Storytelling

By: Linda Goss

Book Overview

A compilation of tales from Afro-American folklore by storytellers such as Zora Neale Hurston, Nikki Giovanni, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Maya Angelou.

Overflowing with wisdom and humor, here is a comprehensive collection of favorite tales from the vigorous and vibrant oral tradition of African American folklore.

Transcending a history of oppression and struggle, Black storytelling is an expression of great social complexity...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671671685
• ISBN13: 9780671671686
• Release Date: November 1989
• Publisher: Touchstone Books
• Length: 528 Pages
• Weight: 1.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Good Family Reader

I like this book, partially because it was the first one like it that I had found. In fact I had purchased several copies for some of my culturally deprived friends with children. This book is rich in story telling history, not so much the history, but actual stories to tell. Most are reasonably short so it would lend it self nicely to reading times at home or in the classroom. A lesson could be learned from many of these stories and all are very entertaining.

Did I do that?

One of my favorite short stories in Talk that Talk is Historical arenas of African American Storytelling. It's about a slave who has an excellent memory and is demand by his massa as well as the devel. Well just the other week I was put in an awkward situation. Someone emailed my boss and used my name saying they "thought" they gave me an important transaction. This incident happened over three months ago but I remembered it as if it had happened the day before. I replied by giving names, times, and even how the transation took placed. The people that were involved were amazed that I could remember such details. I wanted to tell them that I was a distant relative of Sam. But that would have been our little joke. This story fascinates me because our people have extrodinary memories that has to be a God given talent. What was meant for evil, always turn our for our good.