Grateful thanks are due to Melville J. Herskovits and Guy B. Johnson whose unfailing interest has been an inspiration and whose critical advice and untiring encouragement have been a valuable aid to the project. The project also wishes to thank William Bascom, Sterling Brown, Benjamin L. Hubert, Charles S. Johnson, William F. Ogburn, Newbell Niles Puckett, and Lorenzo Turner for helpful criticism and to acknowledge the outstanding work of Virginia Thorpe, project editor, and Albert Dunbar, project research field worker, in connection with the manuscript.