Where and how does African American culture begin?

Every story has a beginning, yet every beginning is a choice: a conscious decision about where, when, and how to start. Beginnings are contextual constructions as are endings.

In her Nobel Lecture in 1993, author Toni Morrison contends that one of the most common story beginnings is "Once upon a time." Such words establish for storytellers and story hearers an agreed-upon context for starts and beginnings.  Such a phrase further establishes an oral, aural, mental, and psychological rhythm and a rhyme that signal a narrative destination, a closure, or a closing. These rituals of meaning-making center beginnings and origins as critical parts for individual and communal identities and experiences.

Even with his self-affirmation that distinguishes him from non-human animals—“I was born”—in his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (1845), Douglass laments loss in enslaved people’s beginnings: “I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen any authentic record containing it.… I do not remember to have met a slave who could tell of his birthday.”  Hence, out of human necessity, African Americans have constructed beginnings—Origin Stories—but such beginnings don’t necessarily start in the same place. Such is the case of African American experience and culture. Sometimes everyday experiences—a family recipe, a spoken eulogy, a childhood game, a doll, a photograph—offers entryway to African American culture. Heritage, then, can begin in ephemeral forms—folklore, tradition, and ritual—that, while just as easily contested, are validating and life-affirming.

This issue of Public Humanities invites articles on African American beginnings: the roots claimed and the routes taken to them. Topics to consider include:

• Church obituaries
• Song and singing
• Play rituals and Games
• Miseducation and Misrepresentations
• Gender roles
• Prayers and Sermons
• Fashion
• Hairstyles and Hairstyling
• Memory and Memories
• Health and Wellbeing
• Religious trauma
• Humor and Laughter
• Dance and Movement
• Talkin' and Testifyin'
• Words and Language
• Cultural Appropriation
• Rhymes and Rhythms

Submission Guidelines

Article submissions should be no more than 6,500 words, not including abstract, footnotes, and bibliography.

Interested contributors must submit a proposed title and abstract of 300 words describing their intended contribution to Guest Editor Neal A. Lester (Neal.Lester@asu.edu). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor to determine the fit within the scope of the issue.

Submissions should be written in accessible language for a wide readership across and beyond the humanities: see How to Write for Public Humanities.

Authors should consult the journal’s Author Instructions prior to submission. 

All authors will be required to declare any funding and/or competing interests upon submission: see the journal’s Publishing Ethics guidelines for more information.

Articles will be peer reviewed for both content and style.

Articles will appear digitally and open access in the journal.

 Contacts

The editor is happy to discuss potential articles: contact Neal A. Lester (neal.lester@asu.edu).

Questions regarding peer review can be sent to the Public Humanities inbox at publichumanities@cambridge.org.

 Submit an Article

All submissions should be made through the Public Humanities online peer review system.