This collection contains video recordings documenting the Fifth National Festival of Black Storytelling held at Berea College, November 12-14, 1987. Features of the event included concurrent storytelling sessions for various ages, the Second National Liars Contest, an informal "Swapping Ground" for storytellers, and scholarly lectures on the status of blacks in Appalachia.

Among the fifteen master storytellers participating in the festival were Mary Carter Smith and Linda Goss, co-founders of the National Festival of Black Storytelling. Berea College faculty making presentations at the festival included Cleophus Charles, Loyal Jones, William H. Tallmadge, and William H. Turner. Other scholars presenting at the festival included Edward J. Cabbell, William Hayden, and Robert P. Stuckert.