JOHN MICHAEL VLACH is a professor of American studies and anthropology and director of the Folklife Program at the George Washington University. He is the author of Charleston Blacksmith: The work of Philip Simmons (Georgia, 1981) and coeditor (with Dell Upton) of Common Places: Readings in American Vernacular Architecture (Georgia, 1986).

Exceeds previous literature in world art history because it places the Afro-American tradition within a multicultural, world context as well as preserving the attributes of specialized research.

JOHN MICHAEL VLACH is a professor of American studies and anthropology and director of the Folklife Program at the George Washington University. He is the author of Charleston Blacksmith: The work of Philip Simmons (Georgia, 1981) and coeditor (with Dell Upton) of Common Places: Readings in American Vernacular Architecture (Georgia, 1986).

Exceeds previous literature in world art history because it places the Afro-American tradition within a multicultural, world context as well as preserving the attributes of specialized research.

JOHN MICHAEL VLACH is a professor of American studies and anthropology and director of the Folklife Program at the George Washington University. He is the author of Charleston Blacksmith: The work of Philip Simmons (Georgia, 1981) and coeditor (with Dell Upton) of Common Places: Readings in American Vernacular Architecture (Georgia, 1986).

Exceeds previous literature in world art history because it places the Afro-American tradition within a multicultural, world context as well as preserving the attributes of specialized research.