Night Riders in Black Folk History - Softcover

Fry, Gladys-Marie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807849634 ISBN 13: 9780807849637

Verlag: The University of North Carolina Press, 2001

Inhaltsangabe

During and after the days of slavery in the United States, one way in which slaveowners, overseers, and other whites sought to control the black population was to encourage and exploit a fear of the supernatural. By planting rumors of evil spirits, haunted places, body-snatchers, and “night doctors” — even by masquerading as ghosts themselves — they discouraged the unauthorized movement of blacks, particularly at night, by making them afraid of meeting otherworldly beings. Blacks out after dark also risked encounters with “patterollers” (mounted surveillance patrols) or, following the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan. Whatever their guise, all of these “night riders” had one purpose: to manipulate blacks through terror and intimidation.

First published in 1975, this book explores the gruesome figure of the night rider in black folk history. Gladys-Marie Fry skillfully draws on oral history sources to show that, quite apart from its veracity, such lore became an important facet of the lived experience of blacks in America. This classic work continues to be a rich source for students and teachers of folklore, African American history, and slavery and postemancipation studies.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Gladys-Marie Fry is Professor Emerita of Folklore and English at the University of Maryland at College Park. Her other books include Stitched from the Soul: Slave Quilting in the Antebellum South.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: The University of North Carolina Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2001
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0807849634
• ISBN 13: 9780807849637
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 272
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar