The African American Oral Tradition

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The African American Oral Tradition

• In Review

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What is the Oral Tradition?

• Stories and Songs passed on verbally, instead of
  in written form
• Slaves passed on stories from generation to
  generationparent to child

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Why is there an African American Oral Tradition?

• Until after the Civil War, it was illegal to
  teach slaves to read write
• If slaves could read write, masters feared they
  would forge passes to escape to freedom in the
  North

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Where was the oral tradition strongest?

• The southern states of Virginia, North Carolina,
  South Carolina, and Georgia
• Where thousands of slaves labored on cotton,
  rice, and tobacco plantations
• Large segregated slave quarters

A southern tobacco plantation (Library of
Congress)
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Types of Oral TraditionsProverbs

• Stories with a moral purpose stories that teach
  a lesson
• Often evaluate plantation life
• Example Dont say more with your mouth than
  your back can stand
• This proverb warns slaves about whippings that
  often result from slave protest

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Types of Oral TraditionsFolk Cries, Hollers,
and Shouts

• A way for slaves to communicate over short
  distances
• Purpose
• Calls for help, food, or water
• Cries of loneliness, sorrow, or happiness
• Warning other slaves that a master or overseer is
  approaching

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Types of Oral TraditionsWork Songs

• Rhythmic accompaniment to slave work like
  cotton-picking and cornhusking
• Elements of Work Songs
• Plantation criticism
• Praise
• Ridicule
• Gossip
• Protest

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Types of Oral TraditionsSpirituals

• Religious, based on biblical stories
• Many detail Moses and the Israelites journey
  from Egypt to freedom
• Reflect the slaves daily life experiences? their
  sorrows, troubles, weariness, dreams, and hopes
  of freedom
• Purpose
• Anti-slavery messages
• Codes for escape
• Lamenting the condition of slavery
• Expressing hope of freedom

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Listening to African American Spirituals
http//www.folkways.si.edu/40076.htm
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Types of Oral TraditionsFolktales

• Stories that explain how present circumstances
  have evolved
• Generally teaching slave children how to survive
  the oppression of slavery
• Types
• Animal trickster tales
• Tales of Flying Africans
• Conjure (magic) tales
• Purpose
• Sharing moral values
• Set examples of proper conduct
• Explain natural phenomena
• ENTERTAIN!

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THE theme in African American Oral Tradition

• Slaves must assert themselves against their
  oppressors (namely, white masters) because, even
  though white masters may control the slaves
  outer world, that power is neither permanent nor
  unchangeable.

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Link to Super Duper Quiz Show