ABSTRACT
In his book Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America, Sterling Stuckey makes one of the most sophisticated defenses of the argument that US slaves were “basically African in culture” (an argument the book also extends to subsequent African-American culture). To make his case, Stuckey relies heavily on an extended analysis of slave folklore and religion. He finds that the most important key to understanding slave culture is the symbolism of the circle, especially as it appeared in the “ring shout” of slave religious ceremonies.
