Contents

pp v-vi

Acknowledgments

pp vii-viii

Introduction

pp 1-4

I - The Tales

pp 5-6

Chapter One - Victor Séjour, “The Mulatto” (1837, new English translation by Susan Castillo Street)

pp 7-18

Chapter Two - Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1839)

pp 19-32

Chapter Three - Edgar Allan Poe, “The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether” (1844)

pp 33-46

Chapter Four - Henry Clay Lewis, “A Struggle for Life” (1850)

pp 47-54

Chapter Five - George Washington Cable, “Belles Demoiselles Plantation” (1879)

pp 55-68

Chapter Six - Lafcadio Hearn, “The Ghostly Kiss” (1880)

pp 69-70

Chapter Seven - Thomas Nelson Page, “No Haid Pawn” (1887)

pp 71-82

Chapter Eight - Charles Chesnutt, “Po’ Sandy” (1888)

pp 83-90

Chapter Nine - Grace King, “The Little Convent Girl” (1893)

pp 91-96

Chapter Ten - E. Levi Brown, “At the Hermitage” (1893)

pp 97-108

Chapter Eleven - Kate Chopin, “Désirée's Baby’’ (1893)

pp 109-114

Chapter Twelve - M. E. M. Davis, “At La Glorieuse” (1897)

pp 115-132

II - Background

pp 133-134

Chapter Thirteen - J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, from Letters from an American Farmer : Letter IX (1782)

pp 135-144

Chapter Fourteen - Thomas Jefferson, from Notes on the State of Virginia: Query XVIII (1785)

pp 145-146

Chapter Fifteen - Jean-Jacques Dessalines, “Liberty or Death: Proclamation, 28 April 1804”

pp 147-150

Chapter Sixteen - Charles Brockden Brown, “On the Consequences of Abolishing the Slave Trade to the West Indian Colonies” (1805)

pp 151-158

Chapter Seventeen - Leonora Sansay, from Secret History; or, The Horrors of St. Domingo: Letter II, Letter XXI (1808)

pp 159-164

Chapter Eighteen - Thomas Ruffin Gray, from “The Confessions of Nat Turner” (1831)

pp 165-174

Chapter Nineteen - Lafcadio Hearn, “St. Johns Eve—Voudouism” (1875)

pp 175-180

Chapter Twenty - George Washington Cable, from “Salome Müller: The White Slave” (from Strange True Stories of Louisiana, 1890)

pp 181-196

Chapter Twenty-One - George Washington Cable, from “The Haunted House in Royal Street” (from Strange True Stories of Louisiana, 1890)

pp 197-206

Chapter Twenty-Two - Charles W. Chesnutt, “Superstitions and Folk-Lore of the South” (1901)

pp 207-212

Chapter Twenty-Three - W. E. B. Du Bois, selection from “Of the Black Belt” (from The Souls of Black Folk, 1903)

pp 213-224

Index

pp 225-227