African-American folktales are the storytelling and oral history of enslaved African Americans during the 1700-1900s. These stories reveal life lessons, spiritual teachings, and cultural knowledge and wisdom for the African-American community which became part of their cultural heritage. During slavery, African-Americans created folk stories that spoke about the hardships of slavery and created folk spirits and heroes that were able to outwit and outsmart their slaveholders and defeat their enemies. These folk stories gave hope to enslaved people that folk spirits will liberate them from slavery. Many folktales are unique to African-American culture, while others are influenced by African, European, and Native American tales.
Overview
African-American folktales is a storytelling tradition based in Africa containing a rich oral tradition that expanded as Africans were brought to the Americas as slaves. In general, most African-American Folktales fall into one of seven categories: tales of origin, tales of trickery and trouble, tales of triumph over natural or supernatural evils, comic heartwarming tales, tales teaching life lessons, tales of ghosts and spirits, and tales of slaves and their slave-owners. Many revolve around animals with human characteristics and the same morals and shortcomings as humans which help to make the stories relatable. New tales tell of the experiences of Africans in the Americas, while many tales maintain the traditional style and tell of their African roots. Although many of the original stories evolved since Africans were brought to the Americas as slaves, their meaning and life lessons have remained the same.
Themes
African-American tales of origin center around beginnings and transformations whether focused on a character, event, or creation of the world. Some examples of origin stories include "How Jackal Became an Outcast" and "Terrapin's Magic Dipper and Whip", that respectively explain the solitary nature of jackals and why turtles have shells.
Trickery and trouble
Tricksters in folk stories are commonly amoral characters, both human and non-human animals, who 'succeed' based on deception and taking advantage of the weaknesses of others. They tend to use their wits to resolve conflict and/or achieve their goals. Two examples of African-American tricksters are Brer Rabbit and Anansi.
Tricksters in African American folktales take a comedic approach and contain an underlying theme of inequality, compared to other folktales that label their tricksters as menaces. The National Humanities Center notes that trickster stories "contain serious commentary on the inequities of existence in a country where the promises of democracy were denied to a large portion of the citizenry, a pattern that becomes even clearer in the literary adaptations of trickster figures".
The folktales don't always contain an actual 'trickster' but a theme of trickery tactics. For example, Charles Chesnutt's collected a series of stories titled The Conjure Woman (1899). One of the story trickster tactics is "how an enslaved man is spared being sent from one plantation to another by having his wife, who is a conjure woman, turn him into a tree...the trickery works until a local sawmill selects that particular tree to cut".
During the period of slavery, "and for decades thereafter, trickster tales, with their subtly and indirection, were necessary because black peoples could not risk a direct attack on white society".
Comic heartwarming tales
Comic and heartwarming African-American folktales “stimulate the imagination with wonders, and are told to remind us of the perils and the possibilities”. The stories are about heroes, heroines, villains and fools. One story, The Red Feather, is a response to the intertwining of cultures, ending with heroes bringing forth gifts. Rabbit Rides Wolf is a story that represents the amalgamation of African and Creek descent where a combined hero emerges during a time of conflict .
Teaching life lessons
African folklore is a means to hand down traditions and duties through generations. Stories are often passed down orally at gatherings of groups of children by elders. This type of gathering was known as Tales by Midnight and contained cultural lessons that prepared children for their future. A Diversity of animals with human characteristics made the stories compelling to the young children and included singing and dancing or themes such as greediness, honesty, and loyalty.