These tales were collected from Blacks living in Sumter County, Alabama, before and after World War II. Some of the tales are secondhand slave narratives, and all were recorded well before the Civil Rights Movement. They thus reflect the early straggles and persisting proud humor of Deep South Blacks. Miss Ruby Pickens Tartt was a local white woman who collected the work. With the help of folk singer John Lomax, she published some of the tales as stories and was instrumental in getting Rich Amerson and his wife Little Bit recorded in the Library of Congress. Miss Ruby and the tellers of these tales have been dead many years now. The purpose of the collection is to assure that their work is not forgotten.