Brer Rabbit and the Peanut Patch
Historical Context
Storytelling, which aids in giving the younger generation traditions and establishes morality, is an important African custom. In addition, storytelling passes along the history of a group. The tribes of Africa used storytelling, with requisite songs and poems, throughout the years. In their stories, nature and animals appear often. The animals in the stories had human characteristics and personalities.
When Africans were transported to the New World the continuation of their storytelling tradition persisted. Slavery was established in the Americas soon after discovery and colonization. Through the years millions of Africans were taken from their homeland to be forced into slavery. Standard African traditions were forbidden, along with native African languages, as slave-owners feared any type of situation in which slaves could collaborate without the masters' knowledge.
Conditions for slaves were harsh; they worked from sun-up to sun-down. In those rare moments of free time, stories were told. Stories, such as the Brer Rabbit and Little John tales, portrayed the underdog as triumphing over the more powerful adversary. In this way, slaves could believe that they would also one day triumph over the powerful slave-owner. Brer Rabbit and other slave stories depicted the downtrodden as clever and able to .get over. on his master. The hero of these tales achieves his ends by devious means. Slaves could tell these stories without provoking anger from the slave-owner. The animals in the Brer Rabbit tales were given human characteristics and personalities in the traditional African way.
These stories, along with songs, were forms of entertainment among slaves. Slave-owners were able to affirm that slaves were content with their lifestyle, due to the fact singing and storytelling are generally positive activities. However, the songs and the stories had double meanings. Listening to the Brer Rabbit stories bolstered the courage of the slaves, as they could relate to Brer Rabbit and hope for a time when they could outsmart their own Brer Fox, or slave-owner.
Slaves were forced to transmit these stories orally as literacy among the slaves was outlawed. Slave-owners feared an educated slave population. In addition, if a slave could read and write, he or she may have the opportunity to forge documents.
White children of the South were also told the Brer Rabbit stories. As with any oral tradition, stories are altered in the re-telling. Joel Chandler Harris, a White Southerner from Georgia, heard these stories as a child and profited from publishing the tales after the Civil War. He also included a caricature of a slave called Uncle Remus and added a bright White child, further subverting the message.