User:Dior Williams/African-American folktales

Impact of African American Folklore[edit]
During the 19th century, African American Folklore was used as a propaganda tool by the white community to push Black Stereotypes. White authors would use folklore to perpetuate ideas such as African American Vernacular appearing weird and grammatically unstructured. The spread of these ideologies began during the rise of the Minstrel show. The performers and producers would create books and songs in the "black dialect" to enhance their reputation. This was personified by the famous Minstrel Artist, Thomas D. Rice, who popularized the Jim Crow (character). He and other Minstrel artists utilized songs, dances, and characteristics of African American Folklore to solidify negative ideologies about African Americans. Some people would utilized Holocaust Enslavement, Maafa, apologists also used these stories to push racist ideologies. There are some Academic Journals that appear to push and challenge these rhetorics, these authors displayed bias and utilized stories that displayed negative stereotypes. In 1877, a Journalist named, William Owens stated, African American traits have "a fitness" to the characteristics portrayed in African folklore. Some claim, that the Author, Roger D. Abrahams perpetuated these in his book Afro-American folktales. He is said to push the point that African American Folklore is an "immoral reflection" of African religions and "animal tales are a reflection of African's childlike mannerisms".

African American Folklore was prominently used for guidance and protection. Some say the folklore acts as a "secret language". Folklore like “Wade in the Water”, “Down by the River”, and “Old Bill Rolling Pin”, were used to help people escaping enslavement alert each other of danger like dogs or people patrolling.

Hip-Hop[edit]
Folklore's impact also translates to today as some tropes are seen in modern-day Hip-Hop. The trickster trope originated as a way to display enslaved people's wit over slave masters. After emancipation, this trope transformed into Badman, which reflected the new ways of life. The Badman was viewed as more of an outlaw. In the Badman trope existed a sub-genre called Stagolee, which was based on a pimp named Lee Shelton, who killed a man after gambling and losing his hat. Stagolee’s story was told in many forms, from blues to jazz, and made its way to a style called “Toast”. Toast is “a story told in the first person that was recited in verse”. The rappers would use this trope to embody themselves and it gave them charisma. This translates to the beginning of Hip-Hop and artists like Snoop Dogg, utilized these story-telling methods. Stagolee's influence also translated to clothing similar to Hip-Hop. In the late 1800s, black men wore the Stetson Hat worn by Stagolee as a status symbol. This commodification can be seen in Hip-hop today through cars, girls, baggy pants, etc. Some artists still use characteristics of the original Trickster trope as well. Common themes in hip-hop, such as hyper-sexuality, vulgarity, hypermasculinity, and revenge, are seen through lyrics of rap artists like Da Brat to Juvenile (rapper) and heavily used in Tricker-related folklore like Anansi.

Movies and Cartoons[edit]
The 1946 Film Song of the South was an adaptation of the well-known African-American Folktale book Uncle Remus and His Tales of Br'er Rabbit by Joel Chandler Harris. In review, the film was received negatively because of its portrayal of Uncle Remus and thought the movie was boring. The film was set after the American Civil War but was viewed as a "glorification of slavery" remarked NAACP executive Walter White (NAACP). Despite the Criticism, Song of the South won an Academy Award, "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" and James Baskett, the actor who portrayed Uncle Remus, received an honorary Oscar for the film.

Director and cartoonist, Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery was known to utilize ethnic stereotypes in his films. He would notably use the Bebop trope in his animations. The use of Bebop can be seen through one of his most famous characters, Bugs Bunny from Looney Tunes. Bug's entire personality closely relates to tropes displayed in the Bebop stories. One of these characteristics can be seen in the animation titled, A Wild Hare (1940). When Bugs allows another character, Elmer Fudd, to shoot at him, displaying "aloofness to violence", commonly associated with Bebop. Bug's popular catchphrase "What's up, Doc" shows "coolness" to the threat posed by Elmer Fudd. Some have argued that his catchphrase is similar to black people during the mid-1900s, like "You don't scare me".

In numerous superhero films and cartoons, there are mentions of various African American Folklore Characters. For example, Anansi the Spider has been seen in Static Shock, The Amazing Spider-Man, and American Gods (TV series). John Henry (folklore) is also seen in animated shows like The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Season 6, Teen Titans Go! Season 5, and a modern-day movie adaptation starring Terry Crews called John Henry (2020 film).