What was the cultural legacy of enslaved Africans in the American South, and how has that legacy been handed through generations?

For author Deirdre Foreman, this question is a very personal one. Through autobiographical reflection on her own family and heritage, she explores a “culture of survival” and how enslaved Africans sought to maintain cultural distinction from their enslavers to create a sense of independence and pride. Slave culture of the antebellum period was mostly a combination of West African traditions, spiritual rituals, and rebellions, and in this book Foreman tells in her own words her journey of discovering how her family’s culture is directly rooted in that of her African ancestors.

Ideal reading for students of Black studies, African American studies, Africana studies, and related courses, this autoethnography humanises and personalises concepts that are crucial to the understanding of Black culture and Black history.