This is a short preview trailer. You can watch the entire film at no charge on the Folkstreams website. Folkstreams is a nonprofit whose mission is to find, preserve, contextualize, and stream documentary films on American folklife.
Watch the entire film at Folkstreams
16mm color documentary based on fieldwork William Ferris conducted with African American storytellers and bluesmen in the communities of Leland and Rose Hill, Mississippi. The stories include include folk and religious tales, jokes, toast telling sessions, and characters from African American oral tradition. The film also includes footage filmed at churches and juke joints. Principal performers are Shelby "Pappa Jazz" Brown (1903-1974), James "Son" Thomas, Joe "Sheet" Skillet, Joe Cooper, Amanda Gordon, Mary Gordon, and Reverend Isaac Thomas.