Dim Roads and Dark Nights

These tales were collected from Black people living in Sumter County, Alabama, before and after World War II. Some of the tales are second-hand slave narratives, and were current before the Civil Rights Movement and, thus, reflect the early struggles and persisting proud humor of Deep South Blacks. Miss Ruby Pickens Tartt was a local White woman who collected the work. With the help of folksinger Alan Lomax, she published some of these tales as stories, and was instrumental in getting Rich Amerson and his wife Little Bit recorded in the Library of Congress.