Deploying his extensive research into the written, oral and material sources of Afro-American culture as well as on his scholarly knowledge of folklife, social history, anthropology and art history, the author presents the evidence of African influence on Black American folklife.

In this book, America's foremost scholar of African-American folklife revolutionizes our understanding of Afro-American material culture. Bringing to the essays his extensive research into the written, oral, and material sources of Afro-American culture as well as his impressive scholarly knowledge of folklife, social history, anthropology, and art history, Vlach presents the evidence of African influence on black American folklife, both past and present.