This morning, Miss Annie told me she got a fright last night when she saw a Tenie the Tree in her bedroom. Nevermind that Tenie is living in Virginia after Old Man Marrabo’s Sandy ran away – Miss Annie said she saw a tree, so I told her that tree was Tenie herself. She came downstairs,… View More

I gots mo’ den enuf’ mons’tus goophers fer dat tea.

In dem days any ‘spectable pusson wudda knowz who ‘ah iz. Need sump’n done? Need ter make yer master treat yer bettah? Need ter git free? Com’ ober ter see me, and ah’ll wuk mah roots. I’ll listen’ ter’ yer tale, en ax’ you som queshtuns, buh’ talk righ’ quick. I’m monst’us busy poundin’ up… View More

I put a glass of water on my bedside table and climbed under the covers beside John. I immediately fell asleep and the darkness in the room was replaced by a tree. It was Tenie! She was a sturdy pine that curved in the middle of her brown trunk to cinch her waist. Her branches… View More

Hmm… It’s a peculiar task before me this week, reviewing a book (yet another book) about “befoah th’wah.” That in itself is nothing unusual—between Thomas Page and Joel Harris, it sometimes seems as if a law has been passed that no one can write about anything else. But stories about darkies by one of their… View More