The Significance of African American Folktales Essay

Folktales have the power to take us back to the beginnings of peoples’ lives, from their hopes to their defeats. African American folktales originated from people, most of who were long ago were brought to America from Africa to this country against their will. This group of enslaved people was torn from their individual cultures when they were forced to their past, families and their languages and customs behind him with their native land. The black people coming to America entered as slaves, and they were suppressed by white slave holders. They were not permitted to speak their own native tongues. The slave owners enforced that they speak American English but it was forbidden for them to read or write. They were forced to do hard labor†¦show more content†¦When I get to heaven gon’ put on my wings, gon fly all over God’s heaven, heaven. Everybody talking about heaven, aint going there, heaven.† (All God’s children had wings). In the tale a girl in the fields had a baby that would not stop crying and because of that she was punished with the whip and after being beaten to the ground their came a point where she was able to rise despite the beating â€Å"that girl slowly rose to her feet and just kept on risin’ and risin’ and risin’. And before you know it, she was flying high over the cotton fields† (All God’s children had wings). This part taken from tale implies the explanation of the natural phenomenon of someone rising from the dead to go to heaven because in the story before the girl raised up a voice said it is time so she let go and was given her angel wings by god so she could go home or to a better place. Go down Moses is an example of a story that satisfies the goal of a folktale by explaining a present circumstances during the time of slavery and now. Go down Moses is an African American folktale that describes events in the Old Testament of the Bible In the book of Exodus God Gave Moses the command to free the enslaved And the Lord spoke unto Moses, go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, thus said the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me (Exodus 7:26), in this verse God gives Moses the command to demand theShow MoreRelated African American Culture through Oral Tradition Essays3405 Words   |  14 PagesAfrican American Culture through Oral Tradition African American folktales have origins rooted in West African literary and cultural forms of expression. When Africans were taken from their homeland and brought to America as slaves, they also brought with them their individual cultures, languages and customs. However, their white slaveholders suppressed this part of their heritage in them. Thus they had to find other ways of expression, mainly story telling and songs. 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