The Hero With an African Face

African myths convey the perennial wisdom of humanity: the creation of the world, the hero's journey, our relationship with nature, death, and resurrection. From the Ashanti comes the moving account of the grief-stricken Kwasi Benefo's journey to the underworld to seek his beloved wives. From Uganda we learn of the legendary Kintu, who won the love of a goddess and created a nation from a handful of isolated clans.

The Congo's epic hero Mwindo is the sacred warrior who shows us the path each person must travel to discover his true destiny. Many myths reveal the intimacy of human and animal spirits, and Ford also explores the archetypal forces of the orishas - the West African deities that were carried to the Americas in the African diaspora. Ultimately, as Clyde Ford points out, these great myths enable us to see the history of African Americans in a new light.