Getting What We Need Ourselves - How Food Has Shaped African American Life

This multi-generational story begins before the transatlantic slave trade in West Africa and ends with a discussion of contemporary African American vegans. Demonstrating that food has been both a tool of empowerment and a weapon of white supremacy, this study documents the symbolic power of food alongside an ongoing struggle for food access.

List of contents

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Culinary Exchanges and Origins during the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Chapter 2: Africanisms and Adaptation during the Era of Slavery

Chapter 3: Foodways, Resiliency, and White Supremacy after the Civil War

Chapter 4: The Quest to Cook and Eat with Dignity during the Jim Crow Era

Chapter 5: The Search for a Common Table during the Great Depression and World War II

Chapter 6: Food as Politics during the Black Freedom Struggle

Epilogue

Bibliography

About the Author

About the author

Jennifer Jensen Wallach is associate professor of history at the University of North Texas. She is the author, most recently, of How America Eats: A Social History of U.S. Food and Culture and Richard Wright: From Black Boy to World Citizen. She is also the editor of the University of Arkansas Press’ Food and Foodways series.

Product details

• Authors: Jennifer Jensen Wallach
• Publisher: Rowman and Littlefield
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.08.2022
• EAN: 9781538172261
• ISBN: 978-1-5381-7226-1
• No. of pages: 236
• Series: American Ways; Getting What We Need Ourselves
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Ethnology > Folklore; Ethnic Studies, Social & cultural history, COOKING / History, Cookery / food & drink etc, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Agriculture & Food, Food & society, Relating to African American people, Cultural studies: food & society, Black & Asian Studies, HISTORY / African American & Black