Vernacular Tradition During Reconstruction and Through the Harlem Renaissance
Vernacular Tradition During Reconstruction and Through the Harlem Renaissance
Citlali
Vernacular tradition is the representation and documentation of spoken stories and songs passed down over time. In African American literature, it’s seen in song lyrics and stories. During the Reconstruction period (1860s-1870s), when enslaved African Americans were documenting their experiences and creating stories based on their time in slavery, the vernacular tradition also presented dialogue in stories and poems, recording how people’s dialects might have sounded. Jumping forward to the Harlem Renaissance (1920s-1930s), blues songs and poems became much more popular as African Americans were able to express creativity a lot more freely, though in defiance of white society saying otherwise.
During slavery and Reconstruction, a large point of slave and abolitionist narratives was to spread awareness of the atrocities of slavery, thus attempting to get help from free people in the North. This is shown in stories like “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by Harriet Jacobs. She wrote a story about her real life experiences, but she also had to make choices about what to emphasize in order to gain support. Songs during slavery and Reconstruction were also common too, and although blues as a genre had begun to grow at this point in time, work songs and spirituals were more often documented as part of this tradition. These types of songs showed a glimpse of the lives enslaved African Americans had and how they coped with their struggles.
Later on during the Harlem Renaissance, the blues became an extremely popular genre as African American artists gained attention and momentum. Poetry and music were important elements of the blues, and vernacular traditions and themes from the Reconstruction era were often incorporated into the genre. Blues media had more categorized structures like specific AAB stanzas, a defining sadness to the lyrics with wistful and heartwrenching themes. African American history and culture was also brought up in the genre, which shows how vernacular tradition passed down stories and represented previous generations in the form of art.
Vernacular tradition is a key part of African American literature and art, and shows us a lot about how people lived their lives and grappled with important events. Not only that, but we can see African American literature change in structure through different historical periods, whether it’s during the Civil War era with abolitionist narratives or during the Harlem Renaissance with blues and jazz poetry. No matter how it's been documented, it's an interesting and insightful way to understand African American history through literature.
This is a very insightful blog Citlali! I completely agree with your points about the weight a specific style of genre has on the affect of literature. American literature as a whole serves as such a time capsule to its respective eras. I find this especially apparent in the development of African American literature similarly to how you pointed out the shifts from earlier to later works. Thank you for your post!
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ReplyDeleteI also wrote my blog about vernacular and music, so this was a really interesting read! I specifically liked how you mentioned the evolution from work songs to blues and then to jazz, although the older styles of music stayed relevant. I also liked how you talked about the form and structure of the songs and how they relate to African American history and culture.
Great blog Citlali! I appreciate how you discuss the evolution of African-American media by analyzing how the vernacular tradition has been followed throughout the stages of American history. I especially like how you tackle the concept of the vernacular tradition across various forms of expression, from literature to musical genres. I never really though about how we could look at structure changes through the translation of the vernacular tradition from one medium to another. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Citlali! During our readings and discussions I also noticed, as you have, the strong link between literature and music in Black American communities -- like in blues and jazz music especially. I really enjoyed how you made connections between different art and writing styles throughout the long evolution of African American literature; I think it's so important to bring this historical progression to light, as it shows how African American creativity fundamentally, even in the present age, arises from the complex and painful history of Black people in the United States. Those who claim -- both now and in previous centuries, as proven by that one quote we discussed in class that I can't remember the author of now -- that Black culture "doesn't really exist", or ask "why does x genre have to be called Black art? Art should be for everyone," etc., erase that history and discredit the real-life experiences of early creators of those genres of music. I wonder what you think about that discourse!
ReplyDeleteHi Citlali! Your interpretation of vernacular tradition in African American literature provides a lot of insight to Black history and culture. I like how you emphasized its presence in both Reconstruction stories and blues music during the Harlem Renaissance. As a suggestion, you could consider quoting some lines from blues poetry to make your argument stronger. But awesome job overall!
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