Black American Folklore

I AM Black American

I am in the process of rediscovering and RECLAIMING the culture, traditions, and history of my ancestors from this land.

Folklore is stories, beliefs, lessons, sayings passed down from word of mouth.

Black Americans as Africans and those of the Diaspora are oral people. We are storytellers.

But Europeans also had oral traditions, they just wrote them down. Then made movies about them. All the Disney Princess movies are based on written folktales.

But some of ours are written too. Shoutout to Zora Neale Hurston with Mules and Men and Henry Louis Gates Jr. with The Annotated African American Folktales. Someone needed to collect and document our stories, our folklore.

1. Black American folklore that I had only heard the name of but never really knew anything about was Br'er Rabbit. A rabbit who used trickery and wit to challenge and overcome the powerful. He was a figure of resistance for our enslaved ancestors as br'er rabbit represented the enslaved, br'er fox represented the master, and br'er bear represented the overseer. Joel Chandler Harris, a White man, collected stories from formerly enslaved people on a plantation where he had worked as a young man. Uncle Remus is a fictional character Harris created to represent the African griot as a Black American freed slave who told stories to White children. Uncle Remus would create controversy as playing into the Sambo trope which may have led to Boondocks' creation of Uncle Ruckus.

Br'er Rabbit was also made into film via

Walt Disney's Song of the South (1946) which inspired the Disney ride Splash Mountain (now rethemed to Disney's Princess and the Frog)

and

The Adventures of Brer Rabbit (2006) from Universal Animation Studios which apparently had Nick Cannon, Danny Glover, D. L. Hugley, Wayne Brady, Dawnn Lewis, and Wanda Sykes!! The Uncle Remus is not included in this rendition.

There was controversy on the portrayal of plantation life in the Uncle Remus stories as well as racism within Song of the South and the removal of Uncle Remus and the history of slavery from Splash Mountain which is explored more here. James Basket who played Uncle Remus in Song of the South was the first African American male to win an Oscar. Albeit an honorary one.

Now I didn't know anything about Br'er Rabbit growing up, but I did know about the short film John Henry, created in 2000 by Disney. I was 8 and remembering it felt like a dream, but I did remember it. What I didn't know or remember is that in the short film, they literally used a quilt to tell the story!

Check out my previous blogs and videos about Black American Quilts.

Black American Quilts blog and video

Black Americans HAVE A Culture blog and video

2. John Henry was a man, maybe fictional, most likely real, who was a part of the Black American railroad workers in the late 1800's. His story was about strength and determination, but also burnout. His story is a celebration of our greatness and a reminder that we deserve to rest. The story also foreshadowed a continuing problem of today: human vs. machine.

There are many books retelling the folktale of John Henry, as well as trying to find historical evidence of his existence.

3. The last example of Black American folklore is my personal favorite. Black Mama Sayings!

Thanks to the #growingupBlack, it made me realize that no matter the region of the country, Black Americans were all being told the same thing by our Mamas lol. Did the Mamas come together and have a consensus on saying the exact same thing? lmao. This is an example of folklore - lessons, wisdom, beliefs passed down through word of mouth.

Shoutout to Lola Hanif and her book What Mama Used To Say... Handbook of Ole Sayings (2022) who first put me onto this concept.

Some of the sayings in her book included:

• A closed mouth don't get fed

• One monkey don't stop no show

• Money don't grow on trees

• Ain't seen you in a month of Sundays

• This too shall pass

• By hook or crook

• When there's a will there's a way

• You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar

• Black don't crack

• Blessed and highly favored

• Keep on keepin' on

• Ain't no rhyme or reason

• You can do bad all by yourself

• Misery loves company

• Get in where you fit in

• Get in while the gittin is good

• You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink

• When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time (Maya Angelou)

• If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen

• What's done in the dark will come to light

• What is meant to be, will be

Here is what my own Black Mama said:

• Common sense ain't so common

• It's better to have and not need, than need and not have

• Guess you S.O.L., shit outa luck

• You gonna be up the creek without a paddle

• They ain't got a pot to piss in...or a window to throw it out of

• If you don't know, you betta ask somebody

• Don't throw the baby out with the bath water

• God don't like ugly

• Don't put all of your eggs in one basket

Here are some more Black Mama Sayings:

• What goes around comes around

• Don't bite the hand that feeds you

• Do I look like booboo the fool?

• I'm not one of your little friends

• You smell like outside

• It's hotter than fish grease

While Black Mamas DEFINITELY had some sayings regarding discipline, that are funny as an adult, not so funny as a child facing a spanking, I'm only including them because it's important to document history. Even when discipline methods and parenting styles have changed.

• I'll be on you like white on rice

• A hard head makes for a soft behind

• It's gonna be two hits. Me hitting you, you hitting the floor

• I'm gonna knock you into next week

• I'm gonna give you a knuckle sandwich

• When we get in this store, don't touch nothing. Don't ask for nothing.

• You got McDonald's money?

• What bills you pay in this house?

• Oh you think you grown now?

While generational trauma is being healed, generational curses are being broken, and parents are choosing to raise their children differently, the Black Mama is still here. And quick wit sayings are a part of that.

Some other folktales include:

• High John the Conqueror

• Keelboat Annie

• The People Could Fly by Virginia Hamilton

• Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales retold by Virginia Hamilton

• A Ring of Tricksters: Animal Tales from America, the West Indies and Africa retold by Virginia Hamilton

Whether Br'er Rabbit, John Henry, or own Black American proverbs via our Black Mamas, Black Americans have folklore which is one element of our own distinct culture.

Let us not forget it. Let it not be erased. Let us pass it down.

If you are interested in African folktales, there is Anansi the Spider (a trickster):

• Anansi and the Golden Pot by Taiye Selasi

• Anansi and the Talking Melon retold by Eric A. Kimmel

• Anansi and the Magic Stick by Eric A. Kimmel

• Anansi's Party Time by Eric A. Kimmel