author
Thomas Washington Talley
A pioneering collector of African American folk songs and rhymes, this Fisk University professor built a life that joined science, teaching, and cultural preservation. His best-known book, Negro Folk Rhymes, helped save traditions that might otherwise have been lost.
1 Audiobook
Negro Folk Rhymes Wise and Otherwise: With a Study
by Thomas Washington Talley
About the author
Born in Shelbyville, Tennessee, in 1868, Thomas Washington Talley was the son of formerly enslaved parents and went on to study at Fisk University, where he earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees. He later became a longtime professor of chemistry at Fisk, and his career in science and teaching was an important part of his life.
Talley is also remembered as a pioneering African American folklorist. By gathering songs, rhymes, and stories from Black communities in the rural South, he preserved material that many scholars had overlooked. His 1922 collection Negro Folk Rhymes remains the work for which he is most widely known.
What makes Talley especially interesting is the range of his work: he moved between the laboratory, the classroom, and the world of oral tradition. That mix of careful scholarship and respect for everyday voices gives his writing a lasting value.