''Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun: Being the Tales They Tell about the Time When the Lord Walked the Earth Like a Natural Man'' is a collection of pseudo- African American folktales written by author

Roark Bradford Roark Whitney Wickliffe Bradford (August21, 1896November13, 1948) was an American short story writer and novelist. Life He attended University of California, Berkeley, and served as a first lieutenant in the Coast Artillery during World War I. ...

and published in the United Kingdom and the United States in 1928. It was compared to the tales about

Uncle Remus Uncle Remus is the fictional title character and narrator of a collection of African American folktales compiled and adapted by Joel Chandler Harris and published in book form in 1881. Harris was a journalist in post–Reconstruction era Atlant ...

and had moderate success, the '' Chicago Post'' called it "howlingly funny". Poet

Sterling Allen Brown Sterling Allen Brown (May 1, 1901 – January 13, 1989) was an American professor, folklorist, poet, and literary critic. He chiefly studied black culture of the Southern United States and was a professor at Howard University for most of his ca ...

criticized its farcical depiction of

African-American culture African-American culture, also known as Black American culture or Black culture in American English, refers to the cultural expressions of African Americans, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. African-American/Bl ...

and religion. The book was soon adapted to a play ''

The Green Pastures ''The Green Pastures'' is a play written in 1929 by Marc Connelly adapted from '' Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun'' (1928), a collection of stories written by Roark Bradford. The play was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930. It ha ...

'' by

Marc Connelly Marcus Cook Connelly (December 13, 1890 – December 21, 1980) was an American playwright, director, producer, performer, and lyricist. He was a key member of the Algonquin Round Table, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930. Biogra ...

which won the 1930

Pulitzer Prize for Drama The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...

. This was later made into the 1936 movie ''The Green Pastures''. Black actor

Mantan Moreland Mantan Moreland (September 3, 1902 – September 28, 1973) was an American actor and comedian most popular in the 1930s and 1940s. He starred in numerous films. His daughter Marcella Moreland appeared as a child actor in several films. Ear ...

adapted it for Caedmon Records based on material in the book.

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun''
at Internet Archive (does not contain Bradford's 16-page Foreword) 1928 books Books adapted into plays Fantasy anthologies Books adapted into films Harper & Brothers books