Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom

by the late Lawrence W. Levine

When Black Culture and Black Consciousness first appeared thirty years ago, it marked a revolution in our understanding of African American history. Contrary to prevailing ideas at the time, which held that African culture disappeared quickly under slavery and that black Americans had little group pride, history, or cohesiveness, Levine uncovered a cultural treasure trove, illuminating a rich and complex African American oral tradition, including songs, proverbs, jokes, folktales, and long narrative poems called toasts--work that dated from before and after emancipation. The fact that these ideas and sources seem so commonplace now is in large part due this book and the scholarship that followed in its wake. A landmark work that was part of the "cultural turn" in American history, Black Culture and Black Consciousness profoundly influenced an entire generation of historians and continues to be read and taught. For this anniversary reissue, Levine wrote a new preface reflecting on the writing of the book and its place within intellectual trends in African American and American cultural history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, African American, Folklore, Race, Cultural, American History

522 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Benjamin Fasching-Gray]

Simultaneously an awesome collection of folklore broadly defined and a discussion of what it all says about African American culture, this scholarly work is a riveting page-turner. The chapter on "Black Laughter" is wonderful. Overall, in addition to being exhaustive with the material, the discussion in a very natural way considers the people who shared these songs, stories, jokes and toasts as people. The author, without getting heavy-handed, invites the reader to consider how he or she would have thought or felt about these texts if in the same position. So much scholarship, even today, views African American culture as pathological... but it's a society that continues to deny the descendants of slaves their human rights that is sick. This book does not fall into that pattern, instead after taking a long hard look at all the material, Levine opens it up so the reader can feel what some folks would call "soul."

[Lacey]

read this book. it's incredibly insightful and a fabulous cultural history. read it! read it!

[Crystal]

Classic. Sturdy. Great.

[Nik]

It's a pity this book has so few reviews. I ran across it in a google search for a sample used at the beginning of Erykah Badu's 'My People' (New Amerykah Part 1). The quote I was searching for was in one of those google books preview. This probably doesn't seem necessary to some, but I'd like to remember this. -___-

I'll come back and write a proper review once I've read.

[Jennifer]

Read for NEH Gullah seminar.

[Quintin R]

Essential reading for any wannabe historian.

[Laura Israelsen]

Very interesting read in preparation for a week in Savannah studying the Gullah people living in Sapelo Island. Insightful and opened me to ideas, thoughts and cultural ideas that I hadn't considered before about the slave, black and Afro-American experience in the United States.

[Nathan San Filippo]

One of the few academic reads I enjoyed.

[Andrew]

Brilliant scholarship

[Jennifer Wojeck]

This was super informative and eye opening. Highly recommend for anyone looking to inform themselves on culture during the antebellum period and well as the projection of those elements and themes afterwards.

[Diana]

Essential reading in my opinion. I was forced by an American Studies class, and have never regretted taking that class. Not an easy read but worth it for the education in a culture about which many are ignorant.

[Jennifer Smoliga]

Very interesting but very hard to read. It had a lot of great stories but some were so drawn out that it was hard to keep interested. It had a lot of history and gave a perspective into a different world.

[Arrianna]

I was OBSESSED with this book. The section on Black humor had me laughing and smiling the whole time.

[Katie]

pg. 262 discusses movement and travel as ultimate signal of freedom

[Rizky Hutapea]

Quite imformative but he uses white perspective so much

[Megan]

Read the required chapters for my NEH course.