Description
Just Plain Folks: Original Tales of Living, Loving, Longing, and Learning, As Told by a Perfectly Ordinary, Quite Commonly Sensible, and Absolutely Awe-Inspiring Colored Woman
Sometimes black history doesn't march, Sometimes black history doesn't shout, Sometimes black history just comes wearily down a dirt road, dragging a cotton sack and wearing a head rag....
So proclaims Lorraine Johnson-Coleman in this heartwarming collection of short stories and essays, written as a tribute to rural African Americans. After returning to the cotton fields, tobacco barns, and humble dwelling places of her ancestral home in North Carolina,
Johnson- Coleman learned firsthand what is missing from the history books about African American culture: the experiences of ordinary people who have led extraordinary lives.
From the front porch to the shanty steps, Johnson-Coleman introduces us to the kinfolks and the home folks, the caretakers and the way makers. Her characters come to life, bringing with them lessons about worship, courtships, politics, naming practices, and burial traditions. Ultimately, Just Plain Folks is about folk culture as a continuum, a link to the past to discover the essence of who African Americans are today. More important, it is a beautiful thank-you note from one African American woman to some pretty awe-inspiring colored folks, who taught her that it isn't so much where we are that matters but where we have come from.
ISBN:9780316460842
