"I awluz liked dead people, en done all I could for 'em": Reconsidering "Huckleberry Finn's" African and American Identity.

This essay discusses the use of Atlantic African spiritualist practices by the fictional character Jim, a slave, in the novel "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain. Twain utilized blackface minstrelsy imagery in order to depict these spiritualist leanings. Minstrelsy often relied on stereotypes attached to African American slaves. The author contends that Twain used minstrel imagery to make his work more accessible to a white American audience. She argues that Jim's belief in spiritualism represents a pan-African culture that is deeply embedded in the overall culture, black or white, of the United States. The character Huck Finn also demonstrates knowledge of African culture.