LITR 4332 American Minority Literature UHCL Research Projects 2013

The journey of the oral literature of African-Americans and Native-American after contact with the now dominant culture of America.

This research journal examines the journey or evolution of the oral literature of the indigenous populations of America, as well as of the Africans brought to American during the trans-Atlantic slave trade before and after contact with Europeans. It will also examine any changes in oral tradition resulting from the meetings of these two cultures and their intermarriages that created a new culture of the Afro-Native American.

When people think of literature, the first thing that usually comes to mind is great written works of art. Although literature literally means “made from letters,” all literature is not written, and if spoken, these unwritten works are considered to be oral literature. Oral literature is defined as “any form of verbal art which is transmitted orally or delivered by word of mouth”; it can consist of ballads, chants, folktales, myths, creation stories, songs, legends, or proverbs to name a few. The practice of oral literature is ancient and can be viewed as predating written literature. In pre-literate societies, oral literature was the main means for transmitting important cultural information throughout the generations. In some societies we can even see that some written literature was directly transcribed from oral literature such as the holy Hindu Vedas, passed down orally for what some believe to be thousands of years before being written down.

The research that I will conduct will focus on this form of literature, but among the aforementioned cultural groups. I will focus on how this form of literature changed or evolved due to significant and damaging changes experienced by of these groups. Through my research, I plan to discover how societal, environmental, and or cultural changes contributed to changes in this style of literature, or if no changes were made at all.

Although there were numerous indigenous cultures with complex societies in America, I find that many of these tribes have styles of oral literature that have many similar traits. Of all the numerous Indian tribes, I chose to narrow down my field of research to the three more well-known tribes that will hopefully have more information available. I chose the Navajo, Iroquois, and Choctaw nations to focus on, as they are large tribes that are still in existence today and from contrasting areas of the United States.

Before the arrival of the Europeans to America many Native American tribes lived in peace with small worries of food, shelter, inter-tribal problems, and issues with other warring, enemy tribes. For some tribes, the styles of oral literature at this time, before contact with Europeans, reflected an overall tone of peace and connection with nature and the land.

As I mentioned before oral literature is closely related to culture, and because of this it becomes part of oral tradition. In American Indian tribes there is usually an elder or several elders, whose responsibility is to pass on wisdom and the stories of their ancestors to future generations so that this important information will never be forgotten.

Common types of oral literature seen among many American Indian tribes at this time period include:

This style of oral literature was common among most all tribes of America, as well as in most societies with strong oral histories and gave a reason for the existence of the tribe and how they came to be.

Most tribes all had stories about how something important, for example a food or animal that the tribe frequently used for sustenance may also have a creation story. For example, the Choctaw tale of “Tanchi” explaining how corn came to be.

Trickster- a deceptive, cunning character, oftentimes appearing as an animal, but can take on many forms, and appears in many Native American myths”.

Many of the myths involving the trickster show the figure as a cause of chaos and disorder. It is thought by some that the trickster acts out human urges and desires, and is used as an example of what may happen if one does a particular behavior, or acts a certain way. Many of the Native American oral myths involving the trickster show this entity appearing as the animals, rabbit and coyote. I discovered that many of these tribes have trickster myths, which interestingly enough, is widely seen in other cultures’ oral literatures, specifically of West Africa. Although these cultures would merge with each other in a few hundred years, it’s strange that both cultures, and others, all unrelated at the time have such a strong similarity as far as these myths are concerned. It makes me wonder where the “trickster myth” originated since it seems to predate both of these cultures.

Common themes/elements of oral literature seen among many American Indian tribes at this time period include:

Native American tribes, similar to many indigenous nations, were polytheistic. When researching Native American oral literature, one will find references to many gods and goddesses, and usually the gods in these stories are somehow tied to nature.

Native America was a society of people that lived on and from the land. They were very in touch with nature, and many times, their beliefs and oral literature are concerned with animals of all types, as well as aspects of nature. It is not uncommon for animals to speak and work on behalf of the gods and humans, as well as the sun, moon, seasons, mountains, land, and bodies of water to influence many of the oral literature of these tribes.

Long before the world was created there was an island, floating in the sky, upon which the Sky People lived. They lived quietly and happily. No one ever died or was born or experienced sadness. However one day one of the Sky Women realized she was going to give birth to twins. She told her husband, who flew into a rage. In the center of the island there was a tree which gave light to the entire island since the sun hadn't been created yet. He tore up this tree, creating a huge hole in the middle of the island. Curiously, the woman peered into the hole. Far below she could see the waters that covered the earth. At that moment her husband pushed her. She fell through the hole, tumbling towards the waters below. Water animals already existed on the earth, so far below the floating island two birds saw the Sky Woman fall. Just before she reached the waters they caught her on their backs and brought her to the other animals. Determined to help the woman they dove into the water to get mud from the bottom of the seas. One after another the animals tried and failed. Finally, Little Toad tried and when he reappeared his mouth was full of mud. The animals took it and spread it on the back of Big Turtle. The mud began to grow and grow and grow until it became the size of North America. Then the woman stepped onto the land. She sprinkled dust into the air and created stars. Then she created the moon and sun. The Sky Woman gave birth to twin sons. She named one Sapling. He grew to be kind and gentle. She named the other Flint and his heart was as cold as his name. They grew quickly and began filling the earth with their creations. Sapling created what is good. He made animals that are useful to humans. He made rivers that went two ways and into these he put fish without bones. He made plants that people could eat easily. If he was able to do all the work himself there would be no suffering. Flint destroyed much of Sapling's work and created all that is bad. He made the rivers flow only in one direction. He put bones in fish and thorns on berry bushes. He created winter, but Sapling gave it life so that it could move to give way to Spring. He created monsters which his brother drove beneath the Earth. Eventually Sapling and Flint decided to fight till one conquered the other. Neither was able to win at first, but finally Flint was beaten. Because he was a god Flint could not die, so he was forced to live on Big Turtle's back. Occasionally his anger is felt in the form of a volcano. The Iroquois people hold a great respect for all animals. This is mirrored in their creation myth by the role the animals play. Without the animals' help the Sky Woman may have sunk to the bottom of the sea and earth may not have been created

A long time ago, before there were grocery stores, two Choctaw boys went hunting with bows and arrows. The two Choctaw boys hunted a long time, but did not find a squirrel or deer to kill and eat. The boys did shoot a blackbird. Then the Choctaw boys made a fire with sticks and cooked the bird so they could eat it. When the bird was cooked, the two boys sat down on the ground to eat. Before they could eat any of the bird, a woman came to them. The woman said, "I am very hungry." The Choctaw boys were respectful so they gave the bird to the woman and she ate it all up. The boys were still hungry, but there was nothing left to eat. They did not tell the woman how hungry they were. The woman said, "Thank you", and the boys said, "You're welcome." The woman said, "Because you know how to share, I'm going to give you a surprise." Then she told the boys to go home and to come back tomorrow. The next day, the two Choctaw boys went back to the place where they gave the cooked bird to the woman to eat. There, where the fire had been built, was something growing that looked like a tree. The skinny tree had yellow things growing on it. The boys did not know what the surprise was. They pulled off one of the yellow things and smelled it. It smelled good. They ate some of it and it tasted good. "Let's take this home and ask somebody what it is", the boys said. Mother didn't know what it was. Father didn't know what it was. Nobody in the whole town knew what it was, but they liked the way it tasted. Someone said, "What will we call this delicious present the boys have shared with us?" The boys said, "Let's call it tanchi."And the Choctaws still call the woman's present "tanchi" or corn.

A long, long time ago, on the opposite shores of a river in Haudenosaunee country, two giant mosquitoes came to rest. These mosquitoes were as big as a pine tree. As the Haudenosaunee paddled down the river in their canoes, they were vulnerable to attack by these hideous giant bugs. As the people passed by, the mosquitoes swooped down and attacked the canoeists with their beaks, killing many. To avoid these assaults, the Haudenosaunee, simply changed their route, avoiding this river altogether. But it was to no avail. The mosquitoes moved to other venues to seek their prey. These continued attacks caused great problems for the Haudenosaunee, who used waterways as a main means of transportation. The people never knew when or where they would be attacked and devoured by the creatures. The Haudenosaunee had had enough. They formed a war party to find and destroy the evil monster bugs. Two great canoes, filled with the bravest warriors, were launched and sent to kill the beasts. The warriors were well armed for battle with bows and arrows. Fastened to their belts were their war-clubs and knives. They bravely went out to fight their foe. They did not have to travel far. After paddling only a short distance down the river, the attack began. The beak of one of the mosquitoes pierced one canoe, sinking its passengers. In retaliation, the warriors in the second canoe, filled the air with arrows. The battle that ensued was horrible. The warriors bravely fought on, but the mosquitoes seemed to be at every turn. Within a short span of time more than half the warriors had been killed. Those who remained were determined to die courageously. Leaving their canoe, they planned to attack the creatures on the land. The warriors took cover behind trees and bushes, surrounding the mosquitoes. The evil beings were unable to retaliate, as they could not reach the warriors through the thick bushes. The Haudenosaunee sprayed the air with their arrows, repeatedly piercing the flesh of the creatures. As the battle raged on the warriors supply of arrows was depleting. The mosquitoes, however, could resist no longer, and deeply wounded, fell upon the ground. The warriors struck the beasts over and over with their war clubs, until the mosquito’s bodies were torn to ruins. Suddenly, the air filled with a swarm of tiny mosquitoes, buzzing about the warriors’ ears. These tiny creatures had sprung forth from the blood of their huge predecessors, and they, too, were fond of human blood. To this day, the tiny pests attack people in retribution for the Haudenosaunee assault upon their ancestors.

Ma'ii (the Trickster/coyote) was trotting along when he came upon a prairie dog town. The prairie dogs started cursing and yelling at him and Ma'ii got angry and prayed for it to rain, which it did, and Ma'ii was washed away. Trickster came across Skunk and together they hatched a plan to get revenge on the prairie dogs. Ma'ii told Skunk to tell the prairie dogs that he'd died in the rainstorm. Ma'ii played dead and all the prairie dogs started dancing around his body and clubbing him. As they were dancing and celebrating, Skunk sprayed his stink into their eyes and Ma'ii jumped up and clubbed them all to death, and cooked them in a fire pit. Then Ma'ii convinced Skunk to have a footrace with him, to decide who would get to eat the prairie dogs. Ma'ii started running, and Skunk hid behind a rock and doubled back and took the prairie dogs and buried them. When Ma'ii returned, there were only four little prairie dogs left in the fire pit. He flung them away in anger. Skunk was sitting on a high perch, eating the prairie dogs, and dropping the bones onto Ma'ii, who only got to chew the bones.

Examination of oral traditions of Native Americans post-European Settlement throughout time period of Indian removal and assimilation

The period of Indian removal and assimilation proved to be a catastrophic time for many of the majority of existing indigenous tribes of the time. Having their ancestral lands stolen from them and placed on reservations or boarding schools had devastating effects. The tribal elders, in attempt to maintain their cultural traditions and identities, continued to pass down the same stories. The common types of literature of this time period were still creation myths, teleological myths, and trickster myths, but one can see a change in the overall tone, with sorrow incorporated into many of the stories. Rather than original myths of creation, origins, myths, and gods, these same stories started to largely include themes of sadness and loss of land and identity. In addition to this change the attempts made to assimilate these groups led to many of the tribes becoming literate in English, and we began to see the evolution of oral literature into written literature in this culture. Many Native American writers begun to use writing as a means to preserve oral literature, for fear it would disappear during the disintegration of their cultures during this time.

An example of the change of tone, and a written excerpt of work by a Kiowan Native American, N. Scott Momaday listed below. Although he was born in the twentieth century, this particular work is a great example of a story of culture, combined with the sorrow of the losses suffered by his tribe:

From that moment, and so long as the legend lives, the Kiowas have kinsmen in the night sky. Whatever they were in the mountains, they could be no more. However tenuous their well-being, however much they had suffered and would suffer again, they had found a way out of the wilderness.

My grandmother had a reverence for the sun, a holy regard that now is all but gone out of mankind. There was a wariness in her, and an ancient awe. She was a Christian in her later years, but she had come a long way about, and she never forgot her birthright. As a child she had been to the Sun Dances; she had taken part in those annual rites, and by them she had learned the restoration of her people in the presence of Tai-me.

Examination of the evolution of oral literature of Native Americans in modern time

Although oral literature has greatly evolved into written literature within this culture, native Americans of today from various tribes still hold onto many of the same traditions as their ancestors, including oral traditions, or oral literature. Despite dealing with the loss of identity, land, and culture, American Indians have worked hard to preserve their cultures and customs. The 1960’s was a period of time when Native American literature flourished and some refer to this period as the Native American Renaissance where one can see more styles of writing, and literary pieces taking on a tone of disdain at the treatment of America’s First People. Before this time period, many writers focused on narratives, or autobiographies, protest pieces, and novels. Today there are many authors and poets, which write on a wide array of all topics, but one will find that many of the writings by Native American authors today are largely related to their cultural identities.

Examination of oral traditions of West Africans-pre trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

Just as the indigenous tribes of North America had elders, the tribes in these areas of Africa also had elders. They too were considered keepers of knowledge and preservers of culture. In this area of Africa the elder was called a “griot” and was usually male. Oral literature was considered to be a highly revered art form in this culture, and the role of the griot was considered one of high prestige.

Common types of oral literature seen among many West African tribes of this area at this time period include:

Many tribes from all over the continent of Africa have myths on creation. These myths, like many other creation myths from societies all over the world have the elements of gods and goddesses, along with aspects of nature.

Details of historically significant events throughout the histories of various tribes are also recounted as a part of the oral literature of the culture. For example, in many of the West African tribes I discovered that members of royalty were sometimes elevated to the status of a god upon death. There are legends of the apotheosis of former kings in many West African tribes. Example: Shango, God of thunder and lightning.

The tribes of West Africa, just like many societies of the world have myths involving a trickster figure that usually takes the form of an animal. Similar to Native American trickster myths, these stories can be used to teach a moral lesson, or sometimes used simply for entertainment. In most parts of Africa it has been determined that while the rabbit is the animal found in most trickster myths of the continent, for West Africa, the spider or tortoise will be the main animals involved, however many animals are featured.

Common themes/elements of oral literature seen among many American Indian tribes at this time period include:

West African culture, like many Native Americans worshipped multiple deities, and these gods and goddesses often played large roles in oral literature

Again, very similar to Native American tribes, West Africans oral literature is filled with all types of animals, ranging from rabbits, spiders, and turtles, and some aspect of nature will almost always be included.

The entire world was filled with water when God decided to create the world. God sent his messenger Obatala to perform the task of creating the world. Obatala brought along his helper, a man named Oduduwa as well as a calabash full of earth and a chicken. Then they began their descent to earth from a rope. Along the way, they stopped over at a feast where Obatala got drunk from drinking too much palm wine. Oduduwa, finding his master drunk, picked up the calabash and the chicken and continued on the journey.
When Oduduwa reached the earth, he sprinkled earth from the calabash over the water and he dropped the chicken on the earth. The chicken then ran around spreading the earth in every direction he moved until there was land. Oduduwa had now created earth from what used to be water. Later when Obatala got out of his drunken haze, he discovered that Oduduwa had already performed his task and he was very upset. God however gave him another task to perform – to create the people that would populate the earth. And that was how the world was created in a place now called Ile-Ife.

Shango was the forth king of the ancient Oyo Empire, the West African center of culture and politics for the Yoruba people. The Oyo Empire thrived from the fifteenth century until 1835. Today, there are about 30 million Yoruba people in West Africa, most in Nigeria. Shango was a powerful king, but some of the people in the Oyo Empire thought he was unfair. When two of his ministers challenged him for the throne, Shango fled into the forest. He wandered in the forest for a long time and eventually hung himself from a tree. After Shango died, his enemies' houses were set on fire, probably by Shango's friends. But some people believed Shango had gone up into the heavens and was sending fire down to Earth. That’s how Shango became known as the god of thunder and lightning. As the god of thunder and lightning, Shango has some powerful energy. In artwork he is often depicted with a double ax on his head, the symbol of a thunderbolt, or he is depicted as a fierce ram. Shango’s thunderous energy became a symbol of the resistance of the Yoruba people during the 19th Century when many Yoruba people were taken from Africa to the Americas as slaves.

“Anansi was one of God's chosen, and he lived in human form before he became a spider. One day he asked God for a simple ear of corn, promising that he would repay God with one hundred servants. God was always amused by the boastful and resourceful Anansi, and gave him the ear of corn. Anansi set out with the ear and came to a village to rest. He told the chief of the village that he had a sacred ear of corn from God and needed both a place to sleep for the night and a safe place to keep the treasure. The chief treated Anansi as an honored guest and gave him a thatched-roof house to stay in, showing him a hiding place in the roof. During the night, while the entire village was fast asleep, Anansi took the corn and fed it to the chickens. The next morning Anansi woke the village with his cries. "What happened to the sacred corn? Who stole it? Certainly God will bring great punishment on this village!" He made such a fuss that the villagers begged him to take a whole bushel of corn as a demonstration of their apologies. He then set down the road with the bushel of corn until it grew too heavy for him to carry. He then met a man on the road who had a chicken, and Anansi exchanged the corn for the chicken. When Anansi arrived at the next village, he asked for a place to stay and a safe place to keep the "sacred" chicken. In this new village, Anansi was again treated as an honored guest, a great feast was held in his honor, and he was shown a house to stay in and given a safe place for the chicken. During the night Anansi butchered the chicken and smeared its blood and feathers on the door of the chief's house. In the morning he woke everyone with his cries, "The sacred chicken has been killed! Surely God will destroy this village for allowing this to happen!" The frightened villagers begged Anansi to take ten of their finest sheep as a token of their sincere apology. Anansi drove the sheep down the road until he came to a group of men carrying a corpse. He asked the men whose body they were carrying. The men answered that a traveler had died in their village and they were bearing the body home for a proper burial. Anansi then exchanged the sheep for the corpse and set out down the road. At the next village, Anansi told the people that the corpse was a son of God who was sleeping. He told them to be very quiet in order not to wake this important guest. The people in this village, too, held a great feast and treated Anansi as royalty. When morning came, Anansi told the villagers that he was having a hard time waking the "son of God" from sleep, and he asked their help. They started by beating drums, and the visitor remained asleep." Then they banged pots and pans, but he was still "asleep." Then the villagers pounded on the visitor's chest, and he still didn't stir. All of a sudden, Anansi cried out, "You have killed him! You have killed a son of God! Oh, no! Certainly God will destroy this whole village, if not the entire world!" The terrified villagers then told Anansi that he could pick one hundred of their finest young men as slaves if only he would appeal to God to save them. So Anansi returned to God, having turned one ear of corn into one hundred slaves.”

Examination of oral traditions of African-Americans-post trans-Atlantic Slave Trade into slavery in the southern United States.

The role of the storyteller changes during this time period. What was once called the griot, is now usually an elder of a family and female. During my research I came across a website titled “From griot to grandmother”, which is a perfect way to describe the evolution of oral literature from West Africa through the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and into slavery of the southern US states. While examining the oral literature of this era, one can see that many of the changes that occurred are a direct result of being placed into a new society, and attempting to thrive under the destructive institution of slavery. Rather than tribal members gathered around a fire, listening to the tribes’ griot retell stories of the ancient past of Africa, this era finds slaves gathered around a maternal figure who would retell stories of their old country after a long day’s work in the field. Although the common types of oral literature during this era still consisted of the aforementioned styles of creation stories, historical narratives, and trickster myths, this era begins to show changes in some of the details of the original styles of literature.

One can see how the trickster myths begin to evolve and take on changes of the new settings and society. What was once the trickster god Anansi, becomes “aunt nancy” in southern slave states and myths begin to evolve to explain how these gods came to this new world.

An example of the variation of the trickster myth after West African slaves reached the United Sates is listed below:

“Anansi walked for many miles into the bush until he came upon some fresh tracks of a warthog. He followed the tracks deep into the grassland. Sometime later he saw signs which indicated that the warthog was not too far away. His mouth began to water. His stomach started to grumble. He dreamed of sinking his teeth into juicy roasted meat.
Upon reaching a patch of tall grass, Anansi saw the warthog lying on its side. The warthog had been killed by someone else. However, there was nobody around to claim it. "Ah, I wonder who was so kind to leave this meat for me? Maybe it was my father Nyame the Sky God. Nyame must have seen that his son was tired and hungry", Anansi thought to himself. "He took pity on me and struck the beast down with his lightening so that I would not have to do the hard work of killing it. I must thank Nyame." Anansi said.
Without giving thanks to Nyame, he quickly picked up some dry sticks and made a fire. Soon the warthog was roasting. Before the roasted meat had time to cool, Anansi began to eat. He did not stop eating until he had eaten almost all of the meat, except for a piece of the foot.
Suddenly, Osebo the Leopard appeared out of the bushes carrying some firewood, a large gourd filled with water, and a cooking pot. He looked around for the warthog that he had killed. It was gone. However, in its place was Anansi the Spider, stuffed and pleased.
The story continues when Osebo pursues Anansi who hides out in a medicine bag around the neck of a captive woman on her wretched march into slavery. Anansi is unwittingly transported on to a slave ship bound for the Spanish Americas. During his perilous journey in the hold of the ship, he has an encounter with Nyame. Anansi pleads with Nyame to return him home to Asanti. However, Nyame has another plan for Anansi.
"I am sending you somewhere, Anansi, but not to Asanti. You must go with these captives to the place called the New World." Nyame said.
"But, Nyame... These people are slaves! I did not have anything to do with them being here. They were the ones who brought me here. It is their misfortune to fall into the hands of the slave traders. Oh, Nyame, punish the people who deal in slavery... But send me back to my people." Anansi pleaded. Anansi was not sent back to Asanti. Instead, he ended up in the New World. He arrived in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619
against his will. There he became "The Comforter of the Enslaved".:”

In addition to the changes of this culture, new styles of oral literature begin to develop and take on important meanings. The style of song begins to become a major component of this cultures’ literature. Through my research I have found that although Africa is very rich in musical tradition, the songs of the slaves took on new meanings for this group and their oral literature. Slave songs can be considered, as spirituals, ballads, or work songs sung in the fields. These songs were used as a method of preserving history of the people, making the work day go by faster, and as way to vent frustrations of a miserable slave-life existence. The most interesting and important reason for the use of song was to relay messages to other slaves and to even help slaves escape to freedom. In one website I came across, I found that in Frederick Douglass’s autobiographical writings that he mentions these coded songs, and clarifies for his readers that in many spirituals, when a slave sang of life after death and making it to Heaven, that this was actually code for escaping plantation owners, and reaching freedom in the North.

An example of how the oral tradition of song could be used to help slaves reach freedom is listed below:

This song was used by those involved with the Underground Railroad. The title itself, “follow the drinking gourd” stands for the constellation, the Big Dipper, which contains the North Star, this was a guide for those traveling North the make their way to freedom.

At this time period there are many changes in the styles and elements of the African descended slaves and their oral literature, but we can see that one thing stayed the same; this form of literature stayed largely oral until around the mid-eighteenth century due to it being illegal for slaves to be educated, or taught to read and write. We can see however through various slave narratives, such as Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington’s Up from Slavery, that education and literacy, was either offered to slaves by kind masters and mistresses, or either acquired in secret. Much like some of the first written narratives and stories by Native Americas, these stories have a tone of sorry due to living such a miserable existence, but often strength and triumph as well.

An example of a slave narrative, written by Booker Taliaferro Washington is listed below:

I WAS born a slave on a plantation in Franklin County, Virginia. I am not quite sure of the exact place or exact date of my birth, but at any rate I suspect I must have been born somewhere and at some time. As nearly as I have been able to learn, I was born near a cross-roads post-office called Hale’s Ford, and the year was 1858 or 1859. I do not know the month or the day. The earliest impressions I can now recall are of the plantation and the slave quarters—the latter being the part of the plantation where the slaves had their cabins.	1
My life had its beginning in the midst of the most miserable, desolate, and discouraging surroundings. This was so, however, not because my owners were especially cruel, for they were not, as compared with many others. I was born in a typical log cabin, about fourteen by sixteen feet square. In this cabin I lived with my mother and a brother and sister till after the Civil War, when we were all declared free.	2
Of my ancestry I know almost nothing. In the slave quarters, and even later, I heard whispered conversations among the coloured people of the tortures which the slaves, including, no doubt, my ancestors on my mother’s side, suffered in the middle passage of the slave ship while being conveyed from Africa to America.

Examination of the evolution of oral literature of African Americans in modern time

Oral literature that once used to consist of sitting around a fire listening to a griot in West Africa, or to a grandmother on the plantation, has now involved into something much more complex. Since the twentieth century, oral literature evolved more into written literature with a plethora of authors and poets creating vast ranges of literary works, but some parts of the traditional styles of oral literature are still in existence, but in different ways.

I actually used to do these handclap games as a kid and while looking for an example of this game online, I could not locate the origin of these games, but this clip takes place in Liberia, Africa. I now wonder if maybe these children were taught this game by an outsider or if this is something that actually may have originated in Africa, and if that is why it is so common for African-American children to do for fun.

I have always heard of “the dozens”, and heard people play “the dozens”, but was never aware of its sad historical background in slavery. The dozens is defined as a “game” where one person spends time cutting down the other person. It can also be considered a battle of insults, for example, two people having the “yo momma” battle. I discovered that this was indeed a contest played among New Orleans slaves that were disfigured or dismembered for disobedience, and were sold together in groups of a dozen. To help themselves deal with the humiliation of being sold by the dozen, the slaves would have contests insulting each other’s family, specifically each other’s mothers in order to practice thickening their skins.

Toasting is a long narrative about a specific character and that character’s exploits that can last for hours in some instances. I have personally sat through a toast giving by my uncle Otisee, that lasted for well over and hour, nonstop.

This style was originated in the Deep South, and was usually a narrative of sorrow and despair at the depressed existence of the Black-American at the time. Although this is considered to be a musical genre, blues takes its roots in the call and response forms of African music and originated from the spirituals, and field songs of the slaves.

Although this is a newer style of oral literature, some may not consider it to be art or oral literature at all due to it being sometimes controversial, but this genre is similar to blues and the songs of the slaves in that all of these art forms reflect or reflected social, economic and political realities.

Examination of the evolution of oral literature of the intermingling of the African-American and Native American cultures

For centuries, African Americans and Native Americans have shared a culture that has not received much recognition. It was not very long after Africans arrived to the US that they and Native Americans being to intermarry and combine cultures. Unfortunately, I cannot locate many resources on oral literature of these two groups at early time periods, but as of now there are many written pieces of literature that discuss the dual heritage of the groups. The main piece of oral literature that I was able to come across was a fusion of both cultures’ trickster myths. The famous Br’er Rabbit Tales are actually a mixture of both West African and Native American trickster myths. Specifically the tales of Br’er Rabbit and the Tar Baby, Br’er Rabbit and the Turtle, and Br’er Rabbit Meets Coyote. There are many pieces of written literature on African-Native American cultures, especially works that are written more recently, but again, I did not locate much oral literature from this group. A list of some of the books about and written by African Native Americans is listed in the resource section.

Diné Bahane': The Navajo Creation Story

Oneida Iroquois, Folklore, Myth, and History: New York Oral Narrative from the Notes of H.E. Allen and Others

The Native American Oral Tradition: Voices of the Spirit and Soul

Lois J. Einhorn

When Brer Rabbit Meets Coyote: AFRICAN-NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE

Jonathan Brennan

Black Indian Slave Narratives (Real Voices, Real History) (Real Voices, Real History Series) Patrick Minges

IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas

Gabrielle Tayac (Editor)

The Trickster Comes West Pan-African Influence in Early Black Diasporan Narrative by: Babacar M'Baye

Diné Bahane': The Navajo Creation Story

Oneida Iroquois, Folklore, Myth, and History: New York Oral Narrative from the Notes of H.E. Allen and Others

The Native American Oral Tradition: Voices of the Spirit and Soul

Lois J. Einhorn

When Brer Rabbit Meets Coyote: AFRICAN-NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE

Jonathan Brennan

Black Indian Slave Narratives (Real Voices, Real History) (Real Voices, Real History Series) Patrick Minges

IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas

Gabrielle Tayac (Editor)

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears: A West African Tale

Verna Aardema

Griots and Griottes: Masters of Words and Music (African Expressive Cultures)

Thomas A. Hale

The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

The Spirituals and the Blues: An Interpretation

James H. Cone

Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America (Music Culture)

Tricia Rose

Liberating Voices: Oral Tradition in African American Literature

Gayl Jones

African American Literature and the Classicist Tradition: Black Women Writers from Wheatley to Morrison

Tracey L. Walters

Oral Folk Traditions in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon: African American History, Geneology and Cultural Identity

Szilvia Suranyi