And let’s not forget what the tar baby was supposed to represent…
The funny thing is, this isn’t a story that’s supposed to be offensive, white people just made it that way with their fuckery
The Br’er rabbit stories all originated as Anasi stories
And a white man stole them and used them to build his fortune, casting aside all of their african roots
a white man stole them and used them to build his fortune, casting aside all of their african roots
a white man stole them and used them to build his fortune, casting aside all of their african roots
a white man stole them and used them to build his fortune, casting aside all of their african roots
a white man stole them and used them to build his fortune, casting aside all of their african roots
a white man stole them and used them to build his fortune, casting aside all of their african roots
ahhhhh omg i had this book as a kid
more specifically, Joel Chandler Harris (the white dude) gathered these stories from African American slaves on the Turnwold Plantation, where he worked from age 17-21 as a printers apprentince. so it’s not just that the African roots of the stories were disregarded, it’s that the African American voices that told him this stories were literally erased as he attributed all the stories to a fictional “Uncle Remus” who of course spoke in a bastardized AAVE.
I’m not so sure the voices were erased—though perhaps the tone was changed to fit the audience. Just as there were Brer Rabbit stories for kids and Brer Rabbit stories for adults, there were also Brer Rabbit stories for white folks. Still, if you read the Uncle Remus tales, you’ll find multiple narrators (Remus included) speaking in multiple dialects. And often what they’re getting at isn’t so flattering to their white, southern audience.
(Source: darkstinger, via robmarriott)
