African American Humor... (2002)
In this edited collection, Watkins traces the use of humor in African American literature from the earliest forms of Black literary expression – folk tales, folk songs, animal stories, rhymes, work songs, riddles, plantation sayings, jokes, and tall tales – through the contemporary poetry, fiction, and drama of African American authors. Watkins describes humor as "one of the richest and most distinctive expressive treasures of the African American cultural heritage" and a hallmark of the Black experience in America