Description:
In her first collection of short stories, Just Plain Folks, Lorraine Johnson-Coleman writes about the everyday lives of ordinary African Americans in a small Southern town. These lively tales concern parts of the African American experience that history books don't often address. Many of the stories focus on one aspect of that experience, such as the importance of naming or the role of the preacher in the community. Johnson-Coleman tacks a short essay onto the end of each tale, which provides further historical and cultural context for the story. These afterwards are interesting, but they do make this collection seem a bit like a textbook. Other stories in the collection, such as "Miz Lullabel, The Devil, and the Sunday Hat," are adapted from old folktales. In that story, a black woman bets the devil a new hat that she can cause marital discord in a household that had been so full of love that the devil has been unable to cause any trouble. It takes her about 10 minutes work--and after she's done, the devil thinks she's so powerful that he's afraid to get near her. While much of the book is devoted to fond, funny recollections of life in the South, the final segment of the book contains several moving stories about racial conflict. "Hagar's Children" and "Sara's Special Babies" both describe the aftermath of an incident in which a white man kills a young black couple. A black man who discovered the bodies tells his version of the story, then the white man's wife tells what she knows. These stories are vivid and well told. Readers who are curious about African American traditions and those who have a yen for folksy wisdom will likely enjoy reading about the extraordinary people in Just Plain Folks. --Jill Marquis
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