This Content Downloaded From 5.152.213.186 On Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC

"One of Dese Mornings, Bright and Fair,/Take My Wings and Cleave De Air": The
Legend of the Flying Africans and Diasporic Consciousness

Author(s): Wendy W. Walters
Source: MELUS , Autumn, 1997, Vol. 22, No. 3, Varieties of Ethnic Criticism (Autumn,
1997), pp. 3-29
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for the Study of the Multi-
Ethnic Literature of the United States (MELUS)
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/467652
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
Oxford University Press and Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the
United States (MELUS) are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
MELUS
This content downloaded from

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
"One
"OneofofDese
Dese
Mornings,
Mornings,
Bright and
Bright
Fair,/ and Fair,
Take
TakeMy MyWings
Wings
and Cleave
and De
Cleave
Air": The
De Air": The
Legend
Legend of of
the the
Flying
Flying
AfricansAfricans
and Diasporic
and Diaspo
Consciousness
Wendy W. Walters
University of California, San Diego
"O Daedalus, Fly Away Home"

Drifting night in the Georgia pines,
coonskin drum and jubilee banjo.
Pretty Malinda, dance with me.
Night is juba, night is conjo.
Pretty Malinda, dance with me.
Night is an African juju man
weaving a wish and a weariness together
to make two wings.
Ofly away home fly away
Do you remember Africa?
0 cleave the airfly away home
My gran, he flew back to Africa,
just spread his arms and
flew away home.
Drifting night in the windy pines;
night is a laughing, night is a longing.
Pretty Malinda, come to me.
Night is a mourning juju man
weaving a wish and a weariness together
to make two wings.
O fly away home fly away
-Robert Hayden
Some people said that when a Negro died he went back to Africa, but th
lie. How could a dead man go to Africa? It was living men who flew th
from a tribe the Spanish stopped importing as slaves because so many of
flew away that it was badfor business.
-Esteban Montejo, The Autobiography of a Runaway Slav
MELUS, Volume 22, Number 3 (Fall 1997)

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
4 WENDY W. WALTERS
The
The African
Africandon't
don'teateat
salt,
salt,
they
they
say say
theythey
comecome
like a like
witch...
a witch...
those Africans
those Africans
who
who don't
don'teat
eatsalt-and
salt-and
they
they
interpret
interpret
all things.
all things.
And why
Andyou
whyhear
youthey
hear
saythey say
they
they fly
flyaway,
away,they
they
couldn't
couldn't
stand
stand
the work
the work
when when
the taskmaster
the taskmaster
them flog
them flo
them;
them;and
andthey
they get
get
upup
andand
theythey
just just
sing sing
theirtheir
language,
language,
and they
andclapping
they clappin
their
their hands-so-and
hands-so-andthey
they
justjust
stretch
stretch
out, out,
and them
and them
gone-so-right
gone-so-right
back. back
And
And they
theynever
nevercome
come
back.
back.
-Ishmael
-IshmaelWebster,
Webster,qtd.
qtd.
in in
Alas,
Alas,
Alas,
Alas,
Kongo
Kongo
The
The legend
legendofofthe
the
Flying
Flying
Africans
Africans
is a canonical
is a canonical
tale which
tale which
res-
onates
onatesthroughout
throughoutthe
the
expressive
expressive
traditions
traditions
of that
of part
thatof
part
the of
African
the Afric
diaspora
diasporawhich
whichhas
has
known
knownslavery
slavery
in the
in New
the New
World.1
World.1
The three
The ex-
three
amples
amplesabove,
above,from,
from,
respectively,
respectively,
an African
an African
American,
American,
a Cuban,
a Cuban,
and
aa Jamaican,
Jamaican,demonstrate
demonstratethethe
wide
wide
geographic
geographic
currency
currency
of the of
legend
the leg
within Afro-Latin and Afro-Caribbean communities as well as in the
U.S., the latter being the geographic area where the legend is most
commonly located by researchers. In fact, all the shores touched by
the Atlantic slave trade produce a collective mythology. The fact of
this legend's appearance and resonance in this widespread physical
area demands both a pan-American and a pan-African analytic per-
spective, a theoretical framework which encompasses Afro-
Caribbean and Afro-Latin geographic and cultural areas, in addition
to looking at the perhaps more commonly cited North American ex-
amples.
Along with being a canonical tale, the legend of the Flying
Africans is commonly recognized, and subsequently categorized, as
a piece of folklore. This classification subjects the legend to analysis
in the discourses of the social sciences, specifically anthropology and
folklore studies. There are two characteristics of this discourse which
this essay will challenge. The first is the separation of folklore and lit-
erature. And the second is the notion that folkloric elements are stat-
ic units which can disappear or be lost. My argument is that the nov-
el form, as used by black women writers, constitutes an alternate
realm of transmission and transformation for the canonical tales of
black communities. Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon and Paule Mar-
shall's Praisesongfor the Widow are two novels which, in their trans-
formation of the legend of the Flying Africans, articulate a counter-
discursive historiography of slavery. The novels (as opposed to folk-
lore collections) function as dynamic sites for contextualizing this
legend, and for questioning previous versions of the legend as they
have existed in cultural memory and in recorded folklore histories.
Morrison's and Marshall's revisions and altered emphases raise
questions about previous cultural definitions of heroism and com-
munity responsibility, seeing these now from a feminist and an Afro-

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
LEGEND OF THE FLYING AFRICANS 5
centric
centricperspective.
perspective.Both
Both
Morrison
Morrison
and Marshall
and Marshall
incorporate
incorporate
the leg- th
end
end of
ofthe
theFlying
FlyingAfricans
Africans
intointo
theirtheir
largerlarger
artisticartistic
projects,
projects,
with thew
ultimate
ultimateaimaim ofof
producing
producing
a transformative
a transformativeor even orrevolutionary
even revolution
cultural
culturalform.
form. Along
Alongthethe
way,way,
theythey
rework
rework
and revise
and the
revise
legend,
the thus
legend
showing
showingthatthatwhen
whenseen
seen
in the
in the
context
context
of literature,
of literature,
as opposed
as opposed
to the
discourse
discourseofof
social
social
scientific
scientific
collection,
collection,
the legend
the legend
of the Flying
of the F
Africans
Africansisisprocess,
process,
notnot
product,
product,
still very
still very
much much
alive within
alive the
within
cul- t
ture
ture and
andstill
still
offering
offering
important
important
contributions
contributions
to culture
to culture
develop-dev
ment.
While several scholars have addressed Morrison's and Marshall's
use of the legend, I set my work apart from previous studies by my
methodology of comparative cultural studies which allows the delin-
eation of a more triangular diasporic context-both pan-American
and pan-African.2 By seeing the legend in its more widespread pan-
American context we can enable a wider notion of diasporic con-
sciousness in addition to seeing fruitful connections within American
literary history. There are connections, based on "deep structural
similarities" or "families of resemblance" between African American
expressivity and Afro-Latin or Afro-Caribbean expressivity. In From
Trickster to Badman, John W. Roberts calls for a focus on "deep struc-
tural similarities" in an Afrocentric folklore scholarship that recog-
nizes, rather than universalizes, African cultural diversity (9-10).
Michael M.J. Fischer, in "Ethnicity and the Postmodern Arts of Mem-
ory," states that "Cultures and ethnicities as sets are more like fami-
lies of resemblances than simple typological trees" (199). When we
turn our attention to the literary examples of the legend from a wide-
spread geographical area we may begin to redirect "the Eurocentric
focus of earlier scholarship in American Studies and [identify] a dis-
tinctive postcolonial, pan-American consciousness" (Saldivar xi).
This altered focus then, calls into question previous definitions of
"American" literature and even asks us to question and redefine our
notion of what is meant by the term America itself. In expanding our
definition of America to include South America and "the extended
Caribbean,"3 we are also forging a counter-hegemonic literary histori-
ography. Thus while the novelists' actions can be seen to revise slave
histories and folk heroic celebration, the critics' actions revise literary
history as based on geopolitical boundaries and definitions that are
rapidly becoming obsolete.4
In his article on Afro-Latin minority discourse, Josaphat Kubayan-
da writes that "The African presence in the New World, according to
Cesaire [in Return to My Nativeland], not only undermines main-
stream monolithism but makes possible, theoretically at least, a
unique multifacetedness which admits to collective or multiple exis-

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
6 WENDY W. WALTERS
tence in America" (120). Kubayanda's re-statement of Cesaire's the

ries calls to our attention the bifocality of outlook which informs t
expressive cultures of the African diaspora: both Africa and th
Americas contribute to the sociohistorical circumstances that pro-
duce a background for the legend of the Flying Africans. On the m
obvious level, the legend is an evocation of "'The Return' as a pa
African theme." St. Clair Drake states that "nostalgia, coupled wit
the concept of the return, is an integral part of the paradigm of a
aspora. It was also an integral part of what I am calling traditiona
Pan-Africanism" (360). Drake further considers that "traditional Pan
Africanism consciously and deliberately attempts to create bonds
solidarity based upon a commonality of fate imposed by the trans
Atlantic slave trade and its aftermath" (352). Drake's discussion re
lies on sociohistorical circumstances, the experience of enforced m
gration and enslavement as the basis for the cultural compariso
and connections he sees fruitful to pursue. In this way his position
aligned with the recent work of Kwame Anthony Appiah, who
book In My Father's House is explicitly critical of Pan-Africanism
based solely on race, which we know is a socially constructed, not b
ologically defined category. Appiah agrees that "...in constructing a
liances across states-and especially in the Third World-a Pa
African identity, which allows African Americans, Afro-Caribbea
and Afro-Latins to ally with continental Africans, drawing on the c
tural resources of the black Atlantic world, may serve useful purpo
es" (180). This emphasis on shared experiences of enslavement is n
however, meant to gloss over the very different historical facts o
those particular enslavements. Similarly, in using a term like pan-
Africanism one must be ever aware of the vast diversity amon
African nations-in other words, one must avoid universalizing
ther Africa or New World oppression and enslavement as concepts.
is this kind of universalizing which Appiah so eloquently war
against. An image such as the Flying African, the theme of nostalg
and return, become parts of collective memory because of the "de
structural similarities" existing between and among disparate dias
poric cultures. Since such cultures are not monolithically unitary, t
legend's context is ever-changing, and so is the legend itself. Thus
central to my comparative methodology is the conception of the le
end as process, not product, dynamic, not static. Before turning to t
ways that Marshall's and Morrison's works exist in dynamic intera
tion with the legend, I will discuss the more static or fixed way th
folklore scholarship has viewed oral forms.5
Most of those folklore scholars who have in the past applied the
studies to the issue of folklore in literature follow an essentially sep

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
rationist
rationist modemode
of inquiry
of inquiry
where folklore
where items
folklore
are studieditems
as items
are studied as item
used
usedbyby literary
literary
writers.6
writers.6
Words likeWords
"inauthenticity"
like "inauthenticity"
are used to de- are used to
scribe
scribe a creative
a creative
writer's
writer's
alterationalteration
of a seemingly
of fixed
a seemingly
item of folk-fixed item of fo
lore.
lore.It It
is important
is important
to see this
to mode
see this
of inquiry
modeas ofpartinquiry
of a largerasat-
part of a larger
tempt
tempt to to
define
define
and re-territorialize
and re-territorialize
institutional institutional
disciplines, to name disciplines, to na
what's what and what's not. Such territorialism allows the "folklore
people" to set their rules and the "literature people" to stick to their
own methods. Cultural studies, on the other hand, by virtue of its
ability to move between and among disciplines, enables a more
wholistic approach to the legend. Precisely that which would "inau-
thenticate" the legend as folklore-creative alterations by a writer-
is that which becomes most fruitful from a cultural studies stand-
point. Comparative cultural studies is less concerned with a seem-
ingly arbitrary authenticity of contact between oral teller and literary
author than with the analysis of changed contexts and accents. Such a
methodology should go further than simply identifying variants of
the legend, and should inquire into the ways the legend serves its
various communities in culture-building.
The discourse of separateness is inappropriate for the study of the
legend of the Flying Africans because the idea that oral and written
forms are separate realms which do not mutually interface is a con-
cept inimical to the principles of black expressivity. African and
African American literature is structured by its varying relationship
with oral forms such as the Blues, the sermon, jazz and oral legend.
Morrison states, "There are things that I try to incorporate into my
fiction that are directly and deliberately related to what I regard as
the major characteristics of Black art, wherever it is. One of which is
the ability to be both print and oral literature" ("Rootedness" 341). As
Morrison's remark suggests, this blend of oral and written forms ex-
tends throughout the African diaspora, allowing us to make connec-
tions to Afro-Latin and Afro-Caribbean expressive traditions. Dis-
cussing Black Latin American writing Kubayanda states, "a Black mi-
nority counter-discourse introduces a new set of discursive features,
which include the cohesive and symbiotic relationships of oral and
written discourses" (119). In speaking of this feature as "new,"
Kubayanda means to set it off from Eurocentered or European de-
rived forms of literary discourse that have moved away from tradi-
tional forms of orality. Folklore scholarship which insists upon the
separation between oral and written forms, even theoretically, is also
derived from Eurocentric expressive traditions, and therefore cannot
produce an analysis of Black or African derived artistic forms which
will begin to show their powerfully transformative role in culture
building.7

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
8 WENDY W. WALTERS
The
Thesecond
secondcharacteristic
characteristic
of social
of social
scientific
scientific
discoursediscourse
surrounding
surround
the
thelegend
legendofof
thethe
Flying
Flying
Africans
Africans
is thatis
ofthat
loss. Not
of loss.
only Not
is theonly
legend
is the lege
seen
seenasasa astatic
static
product,
product,
but one
butthat
oneisthat
disappearing.
is disappearing.
This essay This
chal- essay c
lenges
lengesthat
thatnotion
notion
by demonstrating
by demonstrating
how contemporary
how contemporary
African Afr
American
American novelists
novelists
continue
continue
to transform
to transform
the legend
theaslegend
a vital part
as a of
vital par
their
theirartistic
artistic
project
project
as a as
whole.
a whole.
The Georgia
The Georgia
and Southand
Carolina
SouthSea Carolina
Islands
Islandshave
havebeen
been
an area
an area
of extreme
of extreme
interestinterest
to many to
folklorists,
many folklorists,
lin-
guists,
guists,andand
anthropologists
anthropologists seeking
seeking
to uncover
to uncover
Africanisms
Africanisms
within with
African American culture.8 Because the Sea Islands have until recent-
ly been relatively inaccessible, except by boat, they have maintained
a geographic isolation which sets them apart from mainland Georgia
and South Carolina. Rice and cotton grew extremely well there, and
these labor-intensive crops demanded large numbers of slaves to
work them; blacks on these islands outnumbered whites for about a
century, as they did throughout several Afro-Caribbean areas (Jack-
son et al. 33). Additionally, slaves were continually imported to the
Sea Islands directly from Africa. Even after the slave trade in North
America was made illegal, many covert shiploads of Africans were
landed in the Sea Islands, an area which afforded the slave traders
more secrecy because of its isolation. This illegal importation of
slaves from Africa is estimated to have continued into the Sea Islands
as late as 1858 (Jackson et al. 33). This means that until recently, re-
searchers in the Sea Islands were quite likely to find "informants"
who had vivid recollections of either African-born relatives, or at
least stories of African slaves their own relatives had passed on to
them. These researchers sought to collect African-derived practices
such as conjure, rootwork, herbal medicines, and legends about peo-
ple who could fly. The unique Gullah culture which developed in this
area provided researchers with what they were looking for.9
Many folklorists and linguists view the Sea Islands within a typi-
cally Western linear time framework. Specifically, they see the partic-
ular Africanisms which exist there as threatened, disappearing, due
to the inexorable forces of capitalist economic development and ex-
ploitation of the land and its inhabitants and original owners (many
Sea Island blacks own their land which is now in great demand by
those who would like to build resort communities a la Hilton Head).
James Clifford explains the social scientific predisposition to linearity
when he writes, "Collecting-at least in the West, where time is gen-
erally thought to be linear and irreversible-implies a rescue of phe-
nomena from inevitable historical decay or loss" (231). An example of
this discourse of cultural disappearance is the ethnographic study,
When Roots Die: Endangered Traditions on the Sea Islands. This title
alarms us to the potential loss or death of the very Africanisms in

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
question.
question.ItIt
is is
notnot
ethnographers'
ethnographers'
accounts
accounts
of modernization
of modernizatio
and
commercialization
commercialization which
which
I would
I would
in anyinway
anycontest.
way contest.
Rather, IRather,
object I
to
to the
theuse
useofof
words
words
likelike
break,
break,
lost and
lostdecline,
and decline,
to describe
to describe
these culture
these cu
patterns,
patterns,whichwhich furthers
furthers
a harmful
a harmful
historical
historical
fallacy. fallacy.
Current revi-
Curren
sionary
sionaryhistorical
historical analysis
analysis
points
points
out the
outracism
the racism
inherentinherent
in the as-in t
sumption
sumptionthat thatAfrican
Africanculture,
culture,
skills,skills,
and religion
and religion
were so thin
werethey
so thin
disappeared
disappeared when
when Africans
Africans
werewere
broughtbrought
to America
to America
as slaves.10
as It
slaves.
seems
seemswrong
wrong to to
assume
assumethatthat
cultures
cultures
which which
had survived
had survived
the most the
violent
violentofof upheavals
upheavals (centuries
(centuries
of enforced
of enforced
slavery)slavery)
would sowould
easily so e
vanish
vanishwithwith increased
increasedcommercialism
commercialism and contact.
and contact.
My argumentMy argume
is
that
thatblack
black culture's
culture'sexpressive
expressive
traditions
traditions
are morearedynamic
more dynamic
than that.tha
It
It is
isspecifically
specificallya view
a view
of culture
of culture
as process
as process
rather than
ratherproduct
thanwhich
product
II hope
hopetotoexplicate,
explicate,a view
a view
informed
informed
by theby idea
the
of idea
cultural
of cultural
memory m
as
as opposed
opposed totocultural
culturalforgetfulness.
forgetfulness.
A
A classic
classicrepresentative
representative
example
example
of theof
discourse
the discourse
of Sea Island
of Sea I
folklore
folklorecollection
collection
is Drums
is Drums
and Shadows,
and Shadows,
the work
theofwork
the Savannah
of the Sav
Unit
Unitof ofthe
theGeorgia
Georgia
Writers'
Writers'
Project,
Project,
Work Work
ProjectsProjects
Administration,
Administ
1940,
1940,which
whichcontains
containstwenty-seven
twenty-seven
variants
variants
of the Flying
of theAfricans
Flying Afr
legend,
legend,clearly
clearly
thethe
largest
largest
concentration
concentration
of thisof
legend
thisinlegend
one place.
in one
The
The conversations
conversationsdepicted
depicted
(transcribed?)
(transcribed?)
in Drumsin and
Drums
Shadows
and re-
Shadow
late
late information
information about
about
African
African
slaves,
slaves,
medicinal
medicinal
practices,
practices,
conjure, con
rootwork,
rootwork, legends,
legends,
dances,
dances,
and burial
and burial
rites. These
rites.conversations
These convers
about
about"things
"things
African"
African"are meant
are meant
to serve
to as
serve
a metonym
as a metonym
for Africa
for
in Af
general
generaland
and
specifically
specifically
for for
Africanisms
Africanisms
as retained
as retained
among American
among Am
slaves.
slaves.And
Andtheir
their
perceived
perceived
contribution
contribution
is to anisunderstanding
to an understand
of
what
whatititmeans
meansto to
be an
be African
an African
American
American
(as understood
(as understood
by these by
folklore
folklorecollectors).
collectors).
ThisThis
anthropological
anthropological
view ofview
the Africanisms
of the Africanism
pre-
sent
sentin
inSea
SeaIsland
Island
culture
culture
is one
is which
one which
emphasizes
emphasizes
their fixity
their
as fix
products
productswhich which cancan
disappear
disappear
or beorlost.
beSocial
lost. scientific
Social scientific
books such
books
as
as When
WhenRootsRootsDieDie
are are
seenseen
as "acts
as "acts
of conservation"
of conservation"
(Joyner in(Joyner
Fore- in
ward xvi).
I would reject this method of preservation in favor of a more Afro-
centric social scientific outlook such as that described by Adrienne
Lanier Seward, Beverly Robinson and Clovis Semmes. In "The Lega-
cy of Early Afro-American Folklore Scholarship" Seward explicitly
criticizes the "early 'Mason jar' approach to folklore study" and calls
for the need to look at traditions "from a point of view reflecting their
vital functions and dynamic mutability" (50). Robinson, in her essay,
"Africanisms and the Study of Folklore," defines folklore itself as "a
lore that people have found to contain important representations of
themselves as a group" (212). And Semmes, in "Foundations of an
Afrocentric Social Science" considers that

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
10 WENDY W. WALTERS
First
First and
and foremost,
foremost,the theobject
objectofof
Black
BlackStudies
Studies
should
should
be cultural
be cultural
analy-
analy
sis;
sis; that
that is,
is, analyzing
analyzingthe
thelife
life
experiences,
experiences, adaptive
adaptive
responses,
responses,and and
cre-cre
ative
ative struggles
strugglesof ofthe
theAfrikan
Afrikan diaspora....
diaspora....Black
Black
Studies
Studies
mustmust
relate
relate
to to
a historiography
historiographyand andititmust
must relate
relate
to to
culture-building.
culture-building. (5) (5)
Each
Each of
of these
thesethree
threeformulations
formulations contains
contains
important
important
elements
elements
of the
of
methodology
methodologyI Iwould
wouldlike
liketoto
use.
use.Robinson
Robinsonalerts
alerts
us to
us the
to the
waywaythatt
folklore
folklore serves
servesas
asself-representation,
self-representation, and
and
Seward
Seward
reminds
remindsus that
us th
this
this representation
representationisisdynamic
dynamic and
and
mutable.
mutable.Semmes
Semmes then
then
empha-
em
sizes
sizes the
the need
needtotoanalyze
analyzethese
these
dynamic
dynamicself-representations
self-representationsas adap-
as a
tive
tive responses,
responses,creative
creativestruggles
struggles
against
against
a system
a system
of of
oppression
oppress
which
which has
has for
forcenturies
centuriesdenied
deniedthe
the
selfhood
selfhoodof of
black
black
people.
people.
Semme
Sem
also
also mentions
mentionshistoriography,
historiography, and
and
this
this
is is
connected
connected
to counter-dis-
to counter-d
course.
course. Jose
Jose Lim6n
Lim6ncontends
contends that
that
"Folklore
"Folkloreactively
actively
contests
contests
the
hegemony
hegemony of ofdominant
dominantsocial
social
orders"
orders"
(47)
(47)
andand
strengthens
strengthens
group
gr
solidarity.
solidarity. If
Ifaaliterary
literarycritical
criticalenterprise
enterprise
cancan
establish
establish
connections
connections
be-
tween
tween the
the heroic
heroicfolkloric
folklorictraditions
traditions
ofofAfro-Latin,
Afro-Latin,Afro-Caribbean
Afro-Caribb
and
and African
African American
Americanexpressive
expressive
cultures,
cultures,
this
this
group
group
solidarity
solidarity
gains
g
much
much power
powerinincontesting
contestingthe
thehegemonic
hegemonic definitions
definitionsof "American"
of "Americ
literature
literature as
asEuro-derived.
Euro-derived.Kubayanda
Kubayandaclaims
claims
that
that
"Minority
"Minority
dis-
course
course is
is circumstantially
circumstantiallya acounter-hegemonic
counter-hegemonic discourse"
discourse"
(118).
(118).
This
oppositional
oppositional quality
qualityisiscentral
centraltoto
thetheaesthetic
aesthetic
philosophies
philosophies
of Toni
of To
Morrison
Morrison andandPaule
PauleMarshall,
Marshall, and
and
is is
revealed
revealed
in in
thethe
ways
ways
theythey
trans-
tra
form
form the
the legend
legendofofthe
theFlying
FlyingAfricans.
Africans. Before
Before
discussing
discussing
Morrison's
Morris
and
and Marshall's
Marshall'swork
workI Iwill
willprovide
provideseveral
several
varied
varied
examples
examples
of the
of
legend
legend throughout
throughoutthetheAmericas.
Americas.
A common
common element
elementof ofmany
many ofof
thethe
variants
variants of of
thethe
legend
legend
is the
is t
pronouncing
pronouncingof of"magic"
"magic"African
African words.
words. Virginia
VirginiaHamilton's
Hamilton'sstory,
stor
"The
"The People
People Could
CouldFly,"
Fly,"gives
givesthe
thewords
words as,as,
"'Kum...yali,
"'Kum...yali,
kum kumbubabu
tambe,"'
tambe,"' "'Kum
"'Kumkunka
kunkayali,
yali,kum...
kum...
tambe!"'
tambe!"' Similar
Similar
words
wordsappear
appear
in a
song
song in
in Drums
Drumsand
andShadows
Shadowsidentified
identifiedas as
an an
African
African
song,
song,
sungsung
for for
th
researchers
researchers bybyTony
TonyWilliam
William Delegal
DelegalofofOgeecheetown,
Ogeecheetown, "well
"well
overove
a
hundred
hundred years
yearsold"
old"(54-55).
(54-55).Also
AlsoPrince
Prince Sneed
Sneedrelates
relates
thethe
following
followin
tale in Drums and Shadows:
'Muh gran say ole man Waldburg down on St. Catherine own some
slabes wut wuzn climatize an he wuk um hahd an one day dey wuz
hoein in duh fiel an duh dribuh come out an two ub um wuz unuh a
tree in duh shade, an duh hoes wuz wukin by demsef. Duh dribuh say
"Wut dis?" an dey say, "Kum buba yali kum buba tambe, Kum kunka
yali kum kunka tambe," quick like. Den dey rise off duh groun an fly
away. Nobody ebuh see um no mo. Some say dey fly back tuh Africa.
Muh gran see dat wid he own eye'. (79)

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
These
Theseparticular
particular
words
wordscomecome
up often
up often
in the legend
in theoflegend
the Flying
of the
Africans,
Africans, and
and
wewewillwill
see them
see them
again again
in Morrison's
in Morrison's
reworking rework
in
Song
SongofofSolomon.
Solomon.
Note
Note
in Sneed's
in Sneed's
versionversion
two aspects
two that
aspects
will bear
that will
further
furtheranalysis:
analysis:
Sneed's
Sneed's
"gran"
"gran"
as oralastransmitter
oral transmitter
of the tale,
of and
the tale
also
alsothe
theinsistence
insistence
on eyewitness
on eyewitness
reporting
reporting
to emphasize
to emphasize
veracity. veracit
A
A much
muchdifferent
differentexample
example
of the
oftale
theis tale
foundis in
found
J. Mason
in J.
Brewer's
Mason Br
collection,
collection, American
American Negro
Negro
Folklore
Folklore
in a section
in a section
revealinglyrevealingly
titled, "Su-title
perstitions."
perstitions." This
This
example
example
demonstrates
demonstrates
the ways the that
ways
context
thatcan
context
re-
duce
ducethe
thelegend's
legend's
oppositional
oppositional
power.
power.
This version
This version
is recordedis as
record
a
conversation
conversation between
between
an informant
an informant
speaking
speaking
in dialectinand
dialect
an an
unidentified collector addressed as "Ma'am." The informant refers to
the overseer in this tale as Mr. Blue and justifies his whipping the
slaves by the fact that the slaves
'gabble, gabble, gabble, an' nobody couldn't unduhstan' um an' dey

didn' know how tuh wuk right.... Dey's foolish actin'. He got tuh
whip um, Mr. Blue; he ain' hab no choice. Anyways, he whip um good
an' dey gits tuhgedder an' stick duh hoe in duh fiel' an' den say
'Quack, quack, quack,' an' dey riz in duh sky an' tun desef intuh buz-
zards an' fly right back tuh Africa'. (309)
Without knowing anything about the folklore collector, it is hard to

say why this informant shows so much sympathy for the overseer.
Perhaps what is operating in this example is a purposeful masking of
the legend's counter-discursive power. Here the secret magic words
remain secret. Rather than divulge them to a stranger, the storyteller
covers them up as "nonsense" words like "gabble gabble" and
"quack quack." The storyteller all the while pretends to give the col-
lector just what she asks for. It is as if he is playing a game with her,
helping her fill in her notebook, without giving her the real informa-
tion. Here the legend of the Flying Africans could be seen as part of
the "hidden transcript" of disempowered groups. This hidden tran-
script is what is spoken outside the earshot of power holders, and it
can also be "the privileged site for nonhegemonic, contrapuntal, dis-
sident, subversive discourse" (Scott 25).
Besides folklore and story collections in the United States, exam-
ples of the legend can also be found throughout the geographic re-
gion where the Atlantic slave trade flourished. Petronella Breinburg's
book, Legends of Suriname, contains a chapter entitled "Sjaki and the
Flying Slaves." In some Caribbean versions of the legend the avoid-
ance of salt is a prerequisite to flying. Monica Schuler's Alas, Alas,
Kongo provides several examples of such tales. Schuler records sto-
ries about Africans who flew home, told to her by living residents of

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
12 WENDY W. WALTERS
the Jamaican parish of St. Thomas in 1971. All of these tales inv
abstinence from salt (one example is the version told by Ishm
Webster, quoted at the beginning of this essay.) Charles McKen st
They couldn't go back...because they bring down the thing that the
call mackerel, herring-a salt-we call mungwa-and after they eat it,
they couldn't go back.... [But] some fly. They fly a'wing-like a dove
and they fly from Jamaica back to Africa.... They never eat no salt [i
Africa] just in our country. (93)
Two other short versions recorded by Schuler are revealing in t

gender differences. Elizabeth Spence states, "'My grandmother h
grand aunt seventeen years old, and one day she in the kitchen,
she blew on her hand-toot, toot-and she disappear. She didn'
salt and she went back to Africa"' (93). Notice how this tale is ent
ly based on female ancestral communication. It is thus ironic that
next version, told by George Walker, insists that, "'Only men fly
to Africa. One flew from Bowden Wharf [at Port Morant] soon af
the ship arrive. They never took salt"' (93). Flying is clearly a ve
powerful act, and the difference between these two tales may sim
reflect the common move by males to reserve such power for th
selves, in conjunction with the responsive move by females to c
the power and validate this claim through other women's histor
Schuler helpfully suggests two sociohistorical reasons why salt
comes something to avoid in this cultural context. One is that "T
consumption of cod, mackerel, herring, and pork preserved in b
and imported from abroad-traditional food of slaves and workin
class Jamaicans-was associated with their exile" (96). Althou
many Africans refused to eat this strange food at first, they soon
no choice. Clearly, submitting to the salted diet was symbolic of
mitting to their forced conditions of labor and exile; so to escape
conditions one must reject all their trappings. Schuler's second s
gestion recalls Portuguese missionary practices of baptism in the
15th century Kongo kingdom: this ritual was one of salting the b
tized person's tongue instead of sprinkling with water. Schuler
plains that "'To be baptized' was 'to eat salt' and by extension, 'to
come too much like Europeans.' So in Jamaica to resist eating
may have been a metaphor for resistance to foreign ways (inclu
Christian conversion). Thus, only those who were faithful to Afr
ways were worthy to return to Africa" (96).11 As a symbol of rejectin
oppressive conditions, abstinence from salt becomes intimately c
nected to the ability to fly, to not only reject, but transcend, those c
ditions. In her suggestion that to avoid salt is to remain faithfu

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
African
African ways,
ways,Schuler
Schuler
implicitly
implicitly
connectsconnects
these versions
theseofversions
the leg- of th
end to the North American versions where not the abstinence from
salt, but the remembering of African words is required for flight. In
both sets of tales, there is a key to freedom, and this key is intimately
connected not just to Africa but to the slaves' own will. Their ability
to fly from their enslavement, back to their desired homeland, is de-
pendent upon their strong commitment to that homeland. The slave
must possess the secret African words or refrain from eating salt, acts
which emphasize the flyer's own heroism and spiritual investment in
Africa as home.
Caribbean American author Michelle Cliff's first novel, Abeng, also
cites a version of the legend of the Flying Africans: "The old women
and men believed, before they had to eat salt during the sweated la-
bor in the canefields, Africans could fly. They were the only people
on this earth to whom God had given this power. Those who refused
to be slaves and did not eat salt flew back to Africa" (63).12 Schuler's
study points us to the autobiography of Cuban Esteban Montejo,
who claims, "I was a runaway from birth" (21). Montejo spent sever-
al years hiding out in the forests of central Cuba to escape slavery.
Discussing slavery in Cuba, Montejo refers to stories that blacks com-
mitted suicide as false. He says,
...the Negroes did not do that, they escaped by flying. They flew
through the sky and returned to their own lands. The Musundi Con-
golese were the ones that flew the most; they disappeared by means of
witchcraft.... There are those who say the Negroes threw themselves
into rivers. This is untrue. The truth is that they fastened a chain to
their waists which was full of magic. That was where their power came
from. I know all this intimately, and it is true beyond a doubt. (43-44; em-
phasis added)
Montejo's statements are noteworthy for the way they actively rein-
scribe veracity, the way they wrest the official historiography from its
claims to accuracy. Montejo counters this claim with his own experi-
ence, and throughout his book he tells "the real story," consistently
calling attention to the fact that this story has previously been mis-
told. The latter third of his book details his role in the Cuban War of
Independence, providing counter-discursive information about U.S.
involvement in Cuba, interspersed with statements like, "This is
what I think, and may I drop dead if I am lying" (218). Montejo is
vividly aware of the official line on such events, and the ways in
which his experience invalidates that. But he also knows that his ex-
perience is what is invalidated by dominant historiographies. To-
ward the very end of his autobiography he states, "I used to know

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
14 WENDY W. WALTERS
more
more things
things
once,once,
facts which
factshistory
which hashistory
covered up"has (218).
covered
Monte- up" (218). Mo
jo's
jo'scritique
critiqueof hegemonic
of hegemonichistoriography
historiography
can also be seen canin his
alsoquot-
be seen in his q
ed
edexplanation
explanation of Flying
of Flying
AfricansAfricans
at the beginning
at theof this
beginning
essay. Theof this essay.
words,
words, "Some
"Somepeoplepeople
said...but
said...but
this is a lie"
this
clearly
is aexpress
lie" clearly
his ongo-express his on
ing
ingdesire
desire
to "set
to the
"setrecord
the straight."
record straight."
This version of This
the version
legend is of the legen
also
alsoa a
strong
strongindictment
indictment
of Spanishofslave
Spanish
traders,slave
as Montejo
traders,endows as Montejo en
the
theFlying
FlyingAfricans
Africans
not onlynotwith
only
a personally
with aliberating
personally powerliberating
to power
free
freethemselves
themselves from from
their oppressors,
their oppressors,
but also the ability
but alsoto ruin
the ability to r
their
their oppressors
oppressorsfinancially;
financially;
and they also
andsecure
theytheir
alsotribe's
securefuture
their tribe's fut
from
from thethe
dangers
dangers
of Spanish
of Spanish
slave traders:
slave"It was
traders:
living men
"It was
who living men w
flew
flew[back
[back
to Africa],
to Africa],
from a from
tribe thea Spanish
tribe stopped
the Spanish
importing stopped
as importin
slaves
slaves because
because
so many
so many
of themof flewthem
away that
flewit away
was badthat for busi-
it was bad for b
ness" (131).
Montejo's assertion of the truthfulness of his statements echoes
throughout recorded accounts of the legend of the Flying Africans. In
Virginia Hamilton's tale, when the slave Sarah takes off, "No one
dared speak about it. Couldn't believe it. But it was, because they that
was there saw that it was" (169). Eyewitness account here relies on
the oral tradition in an alternative to written histories of slavery. Sim-
ilarly, in Kenneth Porter's story, "The Flying Africans", when "the
sorcerer" speaks to the other Ibos of the plantation he says, "'I shall
fly, certainly-and ye with me! Do ye doubt?' There was an excited
babble of denial. 'No, no, it is true.... It is well known.... My mother
has said.... My father told me.... My grandmother saw.... It was said
of my grandfather's brother"' (173). Again the emphasis is on family
knowledge, based on direct observance and passed down orally.
These verbal emphases on the truth of the legend demonstrate the
struggle involved in revising hegemonic versions of history. As ver-
sions of superlative heroic resistance to the condition of enslavement,
these stories cut across a recorded history which would deny such
heroism. But the verbal emphases also indicate a reaction to a linear
Western scientific mode of inquiry which would deny that people
could fly. It is important to see the way that this mode of inquiry
structures the recorded life of the legend.
Richard M. Dorson's American Negro Folktales lists a twentieth cen-
tury version of the tale, told by an extremely prolific storyteller, J.D.
Suggs. Suggs's "The Flying Man" goes like this:
I heard about the flying man up in Arkansas, at Jonesboro. The polices

went up to him, and the faster they walked the faster he walked, until
he just spread his arms and sailed right on off. And they never did
catch him. Said he was faster than the planes. They told about him all
through the South, in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas. (279)

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
Dorson
Dorson places
placesSuggs's
Suggs'sversion
versionofof
the
the
Flying
Flying
African
African
legend
legend
in his
in se
h
tion
tion titled
titled "Wonders,"
"Wonders,"and
andhehe
refers
refers
to to
thethe
flying
flying
man,
man,
in his
in note
his note
pre-
ceding
ceding the
the tale,
tale,asasa a"queer
"queerspectral
spectralform."
form." HisHis
notenote
alsoalso
says,
says,
"Ove
one
one hundred
hundred'Apparitions'
'Apparitions' are
are
referred
referred to to
in in
DrumsDrumsandandShadows
Shadob
do
do not
not include
includethe thecounterparts
counterparts toto
thethefollowing
following twotwospecters"
specters"
(27
Either
Either this
this isisaamisrepresentation
misrepresentation ofof
thethestories
stories
in Drums
in Drumsand and
ShadoS
or
or Dorson
Dorson cannot
cannotsee seeany
anyresemblance
resemblance between
between Suggs's
Suggs'sflying
flyin
m
and
and all
all the
the flying
flyingpeople
peoplementioned
mentioned in in
Drums
Drums andandShadows.
Shadows.
In add
In
tion
tion to
to Dorson's
Dorson'sdisauthenticating
disauthenticating note
noteabout
about
thethetale,
tale,
his his
placeme
plac
of it in a section titled "Wonders" must be examined. For Dorson's
book also has a section entitled "Protest Tales," and the first exam
of this type of tale is entitled "Outrunning the Patterolls" and is sim
lar to Suggs's "Flying Man". The western scientific bias of Dorson'
folklore collecting method only allows him to conceive of flying as
ghost-like phenomenon. Perhaps the overwhelming power of resis
tance embodied in the Flying African legend is what causes Dorson
in his bias, to place the tale in a "Wonders" section, rather than
"Protest" section. It may be biases similar to these which keep t
legend of the Flying Africans difficult to find.13
Jose Lim6n reminds us of "the potentially subversive, emancipa
ing character" of folklore (39), and perhaps it is this subversivene
this counter-discursive tendency which official historians would su
press in histories of slavery. In suggesting that Africans were empo
ered with an ability to fly from their enslavement (an ability no wh
person and few black persons could possess) is to suggest a discour
oppositional to official historiography. Lawrence Levine, in his ch
ter on heroes, alludes to the role of collective memory and mythm
ing in the construction of culture. He states that,
For an understanding of the post-slave generations, the history of slave

resistance is less important than the legends concerning it.... Looking
back upon the past, ex-slaves and their descendants painted a picture
not of a cowed and timorous black mass but of a people who, however
circumscribed by misfortune and oppression, were never without their
means of resistance and never lacked the inner resources to oppose the
master class. (389)
The revisionary impulse in the oral tradition is what Morrison an

Marshall carry further in their novelistic transformations of the le
end of the Flying Africans. Both Morrison and Marshall see th
writing as communicative specifically to the black community, an
communicative of that community's links to its past. Marshall als
sees female oral storytellers as transmitting "the wisdom of the rac
and she states that one of the central themes of her art is "the que

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
16 WENDY W. WALTERS
tion of identity. And as part of this, a concern for the role the pa
both the personal and historical past-plays in this whole questio
("Shaping the World of My Art" 103, 106). For Morrison, this pas
often embodied in an "advising, benevolent, protective, wise Black
ancestor" who possesses "racial memory" ("City Limits, Village Va
ues 39, 43).
Morrison's novel Song of Solomon is essentially the story of Milk
man Dead who must learn "to be a complete person, or at least ha
a notion of it" (221). The epigraph to Morrison's novel is "The fathe
may soar/ And the children may know their names." Milkman
southward journey throughout the book becomes wrapped up in h
decoding of his Aunt Pilate's "Sugarman" blues song, and of his ow
ancestry. He must learn names and put the pieces of his lineage b
together if he is to gain any understanding of his own identity.
Morrison, this identity is "a collective rather than an individual co
struct...in relation to a broad sense of history and communit
(Smith 136). Thus Milkman must learn the names and the persona
histories of his ancestors in order to better understand his own pla
in the world. He must take this course in opposition to his father, M
con Dead, who rejects his family, and has adopted a heartless mater
alistic process of property accumulation and ownership in order t
attain upper middle class status and comfort.
Though the theme of flight is present in the novel from the fir
page, the story of the Flying Africans does not emerge until the e
of Milkman's quest.14 Outside Solomon's General Store, in Shalima
Virginia, Milkman watches children play a circular singing game:
About eight or nine boys and girls were standing in a circle. A boy in
the middle, his arms outstretched, turned around like an airplane,
while the other sang some meaningless rhyme: Jay the only son of
Solomonl Come booba yalle, come booba tambeel Whirl about and touch the
sun/ Come booba yalle, come booba tambee.... (267)
At this point the words are nonsense, meaningless rhymes to Mi

man, but similar names, and a similar story, can be found in Dru
and Shadows. Shad Hall, descendant of Belali Mohomet states, "'Mu
gran was Hestuh, Belali's daughtuh.... She say Belali an all he famb
come on same boat frum Africa. Belali hab plenty daughtuhs, Med
na, Yaruba, Fatima, Bentoo, Hestuh, Magret, and Chaalut"' (166). In
terestingly, Morrison's Solomon (as Milkman will soon find out) h
21 children, all boys, the youngest son, Jake. Morrison's words "co
booba yalle, come booba tambee" have been noted in various ve
sions of the legend in Drums and Shadows and elsewhere. What m

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
be
be occurring
occurringhere
hereis is
a second
a second
level
level
of transmission
of transmission
between
between
oralityor
and
and novelistic
novelisticdiscourse.
discourse.The
The
novelist
novelist
maymay
be using
be using
oral legend
oral leg
as
recorded
recordedby byfolklore
folklorecollectors.
collectors.
TheThe
result
result
is a transformation
is a transformation
of theo
once
once static
staticartifact,
artifact,which
whichis now
is now
reworked
reworked
by the
by contemporary
the contemporar
sto-
ryteller.
The role of children in bearing this legend in their circular song-
games is important to Morrison, especially considering her epigraph.
Daniel Hoffman refers to "the 'nonsense' counting-out rhymes of
children" as a frequent context for oral folklore no longer in wide cir-
culation among the broader population (19). Virginia Hamilton's sto-
ry, "The People Could Fly," is part of a large picture book, presum-
ably for children (but certainly relevant for adults as well). She ends
her tale, "They say that the children of the ones who could not fly
told their children. And now, me, I have told it to you" (172). Anoth-
er male who seeks to know about flying and who comes upon a chil-
dren's game is Sjaki of the Suriname legend. Lim6n reminds us of the
potentially radical nature of the oral lore possessed by children, stat-
ing that, "Children's games constitute a potential counterhegemonic
practice.... After early childhood, however, life becomes a painful
matter of growing up into advanced capitalism" (41). Milkman's own
situation, in which he is stuck in this pain, is also marked by his real-
ization that in his own childhood, "he was never asked to play those
circle games, those singing games, to join in anything" (267). Milk-
man now must learn to pay close attention to the children's song, for
it is the key to the meaning of his own ancestry which he seeks. He
memorizes the song, the last refrain of which goes like this: Solomon
done fly, Solomon done gonel Solomon cut across the sky, Solomon gone
home. Through the words to the song, combined with information he
has learned from people in Shalimar, Milkman pieces together the
fact that he is Solomon, the Flying African's great grandson. The
knowledge of his ancestry, the connections to a line of people he can
now name, and especially to one so heroic, is elating to Milkman.
Milkman's initial joy in naming his people sparks in him the auto-
matic desire to celebrate Solomon's heroism:
'[H]e could fly! You hear me? My great-grandaddy could fly! God-
dam!... He didn't need no airplane. Didn't need no fuckin tee double
you ay. He could fly his own self!... He just took off; got fed up. All the
way up! No more cotton! No more bales! No more shit! He flew, baby.
Lifted his beautiful black ass up in the sky and flew on home. Can you
digit?' (332)

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
18 WENDY W. WALTERS
The
The acknowledgment
acknowledgmentof of
thisthis
heroism,
heroism,
the awareness
the awareness
of a male
of aances-
male an
tor
tor he
hecan
canreally
reallybe be
proud
proud
of, of,
helps
helps
beginbegin
Milkman's
Milkman's
journey
journey
to
wholeness.
wholeness.But But it it
is is
important
importantto understand
to understand
that movement
that movement
in col- in
lective,
lective,rather
rather thanthanindividualistic
individualistic
terms.
terms.
Central
Central
to Morrison's
to Morrison's
con-
ception
ceptionof ofthe
theaesthetic
aesthetic principles
principles
guiding
guiding
her own
herand
ownother
and African
other Af
American
Americanart artis is
thethe
rejection
rejection
of "the
of "the
mandates
mandates
of individualism"
of individualism"
in
favor
favorof ofthe
thesocial
social whole
whole("City
("City
Limits,
Limits,
Village
Village
Values"
Values"
36). Women
36). Wom
and
and children
childrenbecome,
become, forfor
Morrison,
Morrison,the important
the important
membersmembers
of that of
social whole whom Milkman and other would-be male heroes must
learn to consider.
In speaking of the legend of the Flying Africans as heroic, Morri-
son states, "The heroic is hidden in the lore. The archetypes have this
sort of glory, such as the triumph of this flying African. There's also the
pity of the consequences of that heroism, so there's a mixture of terror and
delight" (Ruas 241; emphasis added). Milkman's first response to his
new knowledge is this triumphant glory. But all of his informants
about his past, in Shalimar, have been women and children. In these
women's stories and questions, the double-edged nature of
Solomon's flight is ever-present, but it takes Milkman a while to com-
prehend. Susan Byrd explains to him, "'I guess [Solomon] must have
been hot stuff. But anyway, hot stuff or not, he disappeared and left
everybody. Wife, everybody, including some twenty-one children.
And they say they all saw him go. The wife saw him and the children
saw him. They were all working in the fields"' (326). Byrd tells Milk-
man that the wife left behind, named Ryna, went crazy from grief.
She mentions that it is rare nowadays for a woman to be unable to
live without a particular man, to die for love. In saying this she
makes a connection to Milkman's cousin Hagar, whom he has loved
and left, and who, unknown to him at the time, is dying for lack of his
love. Thus Milkman is symbolically connected to Solomon, the fly-
ing, leaving hero. Of the several references to flight in the novel, Mor-
rison calls Solomon's "the most magical, the most theatrical and, for
Milkman, the most satisfying. It is also the most problematic-to
those he left behind" ("Unspeakable" 28). Milkman must come to un-
derstand the problematic side to Solomon's flight, as well as its hero-
ic side. Again it is a woman, Sweet, who calls his attention to this:
"'Who'd he leave behind?"' she asks him during his elated retelling
of Solomon's heroism. It is only after Milkman learns of Hagar's
death, and by extension his own responsibility to other people, that
he starts to perceive Solomon's irresponsibility:
While he dreamt of flying, Hagar was dying. Sweet's silvery voice

came back to him: "Who'd he leave behind?" He left Ryna behind and

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
twenty
twentychildren.
children.
Twenty-one,
Twenty-one,
since
since
he dropped
he dropped
the onethe
he one
tried
hetotried
take to
with
with him.
him.And
AndRyna
Ryna hadhad
thrown
thrownherself
herself
all over
all the
overground,
the ground,
lost herlost h
mind,
mind,and
andwas
wasstill
still
crying
crying
in ain
ditch.
a ditch.
Who Wholookedlooked
after those
aftertwenty
those twe
children?
children?Jesus
JesusChrist,
Christ,
he he
leftleft
twenty-one
twenty-one
children!...but
children!...but
it was the
it was
chil-the chi
dren
dren who
whosang
sang
about
about
it and
it and
keptkept
the story
the story
of hisof
leaving
his leaving
alive. (336;
alive.
empha-
(336; em
sis added)
Women and children persevere as the unsung heroes, and male hero-
ism is more traditionally touted in oral legend. This seeming imbal-
ance is complicated by the fact that women and children, in Morri-
son's reworking, are the ones who sing the praises. But in this act of
singing, telling, remembering, they are also questioning and critical.
They are the ones who remind Milkman about the people left behind
by the individualistic male heroic act.
Each tale must have leaving structured into it: for it is certainly not
the dominant culture, as represented by driver, overseer or master,
who will pass on this legend of resistance to future generations. Some
slaves must always be left behind to tell the tale. Since it is almost al-
ways only those slaves born in Africa who can fly, there are usually
some American-born slaves left behind-often children. It is the fate
of these people, this link in a chain of heroism, that Morrison's revi-
sion and particular concern highlights. Morrison states that "folk lore
can also contain myths that re-activate themselves endlessly through
providers-the people who repeat, reshape, reconstitute and reinter-
pret them" ("Unspeakable Things Unspoken" 30). Morrison and
Marshall are two contemporary providers who transform aspects of
the collective memory.
Marshall has stated that the collection of Gullah folktales from the
Georgia Sea Islands found in Drums and Shadows formed the basis for
Praisesong for the Widow.15 Praisesong concerns Avey (Avatara) John-
son, an upper middle class black woman in her late fifties who goes
on a literal and figurative journey to regain her lost heritage which
she has pushed aside as she and her late husband became caught up
in the U.S.'s ethos of materialistic accumulation. Thus Avey's
progress in the novel is in many ways similar to Milkman's. Marshall
has explained that her goal in writing Praisesong was to connect "this
well-heeled middle class Black widow" with the Gullah folktale of
the Ibos stepping across the water back to Africa (1989). Although the
"Ibo Landing" story does not contain flying, it is similar in many re-
spects to several versions of the Flying African legend. Both stories
contain specially-empowered slaves who leave slavery and travel
back to Africa by "super human" means. The "official" footnoted
version of the story of Ibo Landing as recounted by the folklore col-

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
20 WENDY W. WALTERS
lectors
lectorsin
inDrums
Drumsand
and
Shadows
Shadows
reads,
reads,
"A group
"A group
of slaves
of from
slavesthe
from
Ibo the
tribe
triberefused
refusedtoto
submit
submit
to slavery.
to slavery.
Led by
Ledtheir
by their
chief and
chief
singing
and singing
trib- tri
al
al songs,
songs,they
theywalked
walked into
into
the the
waterwater
and were
and were
drowneddrowned
at a point
at on
a point
Dunbar
DunbarCreekCreeklater
laternamed
named
Ebo Ebo
(Ibo)(Ibo)
Landing"
Landing"
(150). In
(150).
its statement
In its statem
of
of aa chosen
chosenrefusal
refusalmade
made
by an
by African
an African
leaderleader
and hisand
tribe,
his this
tribe,
notethis n
hints
hintsof ofempowered
empowered agency
agency
on the
on part
the part
of theofAfricans.
the Africans.
But no men-
But no m
tion
tion isismade
madehere
hereof of
thethe
possibility
possibility
that that
the Ibos
thewalked
Ibos walked
on water,
on and
water,
Africa is not identified as the destination. Later in Drums and Shad-
ows, Floyd White, in his retelling, aligns the tale more closely with
that of the Flying Africans. He states that the Ibos "mahch right down
in duh ribbuh tuh mahch back tuh Africa" (185). In his version, al-
though the ending of drowning is the same, the intention is quite dif-
ferent, since the Ibos are not walking to their death, but marching back
to Africa, to freedom, their homeland, and away from white oppres-
sion.
Marshall, in her own revision of the tale, goes even further to en-
dow the Ibos with several special powers, similar to those of the Fly-
ing Africans. Each summer since she was seven years old, Avey is
sent down to the Sea Island of Tatem, South Carolina, to stay with her
Great Aunt Cuney. Her Great Aunt takes Avey down to the Ibo Land-
ing about twice a week and ceremonially tells her her version of the
tale as told to her by her grandmother. Cuney always begins, "'It was
here that they brought 'em. They taken 'em out of the boats right here
where we's standing"' (37). In Marshall's revision of the story, when
the Ibos land, they size up their captors, look far into the future and
see all about slavery, and the Reconstruction: "'those pure-born
Africans was peoples my gran said could see in more ways than
one"' (37). This omniscient glance tells them all they need to know
and they simply turn and march across the water back to Africa:
"'And they wasn't taking they time no more. They had seen what
they had seen and those Ibos was stepping!"' (38).16 Despite all the
iron and chains around their necks and wrists, they don't sink, and
they successfully walk on water back to Africa. This is reminiscent of
Esteban Montejo's similar story: "There are those who say the Ne-
groes threw themselves into rivers. This is untrue. The truth is they
fastened a chain to their waists which was full of magic" (44). The
chains of slavery transform into the chains of empowerment. Cuney
continues,
'But chains didn't stop those Ibos none. Neither iron. The way my
gran' tol' it (other folks in Tatem said it wasn't so and that she was
crazy but she never paid 'em no mind) 'cording to her they just kept on
walking like the water was solid ground. Left the white folks standin'

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
back
backhere
herewith
with
theythey
mouth
mouth
hung open
hungand
open
they and
taken
they
off down
taken
theoff
riv-down the riv
er
er on
onfoot.
foot.Stepping....
Stepping....
ThoseThose
Ibos! Just
Ibos!
upped
Justandupped
walkedand
on away
walked on a
not
nottwo
twominutes
minutesafter
after
getting
getting
here!' (39)
here!' (39)
Cuney's
Cuney's parenthetical
parenthetical
comments
comments
bring upbring
the issue
up ofthe
believability
issue of believab
and
andveracity
veracitywhich
which
is such
is such
a common
a common
aspect ofaspect
the Flying
of the
African
Flying Afr
legend.
legend.Because
Because
flying
flying
and walking
and walking
on wateron arewater
not recognized
are not asrecogn
humanly
humanly possible
possible
in a in
western
a western
scientific
scientific
framework, framework,
assertions ofasserti
their occurrence are met with disbelief. So the teller must affirm the
veracity by eyewitness avowals and other strong convictions, or else,
like Cuney's grandmother, pay no attention to the naysayers. Mar-
shall pushes the point of what we believe and why, even further
when she has a ten-year-old Avey ask, "'But how come they didn't
drown, Aunt Cuney?"' (39) Cuney responds with a "quietly danger-
ous note" in her voice: "'Did it say Jesus drowned when he went
walking on the water in that Sunday School book your momma al-
ways sends with you?"'(40). Marshall here implicitly posits the story
of Ibo Landing as a spiritually empowering legend for African de-
scended people, which in some ways can serve as a companion dis-
course to the canonical stories of Christianity. She also acknowledges
the risk in the telling: those who would pass the tale on may also
have to face community censure or scorn. Thus the very act of telling
itself can be seen as heroic.
An important aspect of Marshall's refiguration of the legend of
powerful Africans returning to Africa is the empowered role of
women as transmitters. Cuney's story is marked repeatedly by the
phrases "my gran' said," and "'cording to my gran'." This legend is
one passed down from grandmother to granddaughter, to grand-
niece, in a matrilineal perpetuation of knowledge through story.
Though her gran' is always present in Cuney's version of the story,
Cuney's naming seems very different, for example, than the validat-
ing naming Mary Granger, in her appendix to Drums and Shadows,
uses: citing Capt. Robert Sutherland Rattray as expert of African be-
liefs about flying and witchcraft. In her essay, "Grandma's Story,"
Trinh Minh-ha writes, "I memorize, recognize, and name my
source(s), not to validate my voice through the voice of an authority
(for we, women, have little authority in the History of Literature, and
wise women never draw their powers from authority), but to evoke
her and sing. The bond between women and word" (122). Marshall
herself has written of the importance of this matrilineal bond of lan-
guage in shaping her own fictive voice. She speaks, in "From the Po-
ets in the Kitchen," of her mother and her mother's friends who
talked in her kitchen: "They were women in whom the need for self-

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
22 WENDY W. WALTERS
expression
expressionwas wasstrong,
strong,
andand
since
since
language
language
was the
wasonly
thevehicle
only vehicle
read- re
ily
ily available
availabletotothem
them
theythey
mademade
of itof
anit
art
anform
art form
that-inthat-in
keepingkeep
with the African tradition in which art and life are one-was an inte-
gral part of their lives" ("From the Poets" 6). The heritage of these
women, like Marshall's own, touches multiple points in the African
diaspora-many are born in Barbados, living in New York, of African
descent. Like Avey's Aunt Cuney, and Marshall, they revise and
transmit the stories of their past, the canonical tales of cultural mem-
ory. And it is from their talk that Marshall develops her own aesthet-
ic philosophy and linguistic skills.
At the end of the novel Avey accepts her true name of Avatara, de-
cides to spend part of each year in Tatem, South Carolina (sell the
house in North White Plains), and send for her own grandchildren
each summer, vowing to take them down to Ibo Landing at least
twice a week and ritually retell her namesake's tale. Marshall's last
lines of the novel are the beginning of Aunt Cuney's (now Avey's)
tale: "'It was here that they brought them.... They took them out of
the boats right here where we're standing"' (256). This movement is
the circular shape of return. Barbara Christian points out that, "Thus
Paule Marshall, like Avey Johnson, must continue the process by
passing on the rituals. And this function is finally the essence of her
praisesong" (158). Christian here names the retelling as a process, im-
plying that it is not a static repetition or imitation, but a creative re-
fabrication.
Marshall's aesthetic philosophies and principles are based in part
on Ralph Ellison's emphasis on the qualities black people possess
that have historically enabled them "not only to survive, but to re-
main responsive, creative beings" despite centuries of upheaval, di-
asporic displacement, enslavement, and oppression ("Shaping the
World of My Art" 106). She writes, "We are forever transcending our
condition. It is this I want to celebrate" (106). The legend of the Flying
Africans, in all its variations, is ultimately about this ability to tran-
scend one's condition, and Marshall's own use of it is part of what
she sees as the responsibility of the black writer in culture-building.
She explains that the black writer's "task is two-fold: On one hand to
make use of the rich body of folk and historical material that is there;
and on the other to interpret that past in heroic terms" (108). Central
to both Morrison's and Marshall's aesthetic principles then, is the in-
corporation and revision of the canonical tales of African American
cultural memory. Their revision enables them both to question previ-
ously celebrated versions of heroism and also to posit other acts
(such as storytelling) as heroic.17 A vision of the legend as process,
rather than product, allows us to contrast the ways in which creative

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
artists
artistsmake
make useuse
of their
of their
culture's
culture's
collective
collective
memoriesmemories
with the waywith th
that
thata asocial
socialscientific
scientific
discourse
discourse
may view
maythose
viewmemories
those memories
as static el-as st
ements
ementswhich
which areare
quick
quick
to disappear.
to disappear.
Throughout
Throughout thethe
African
African
diaspora,
diaspora,
counter-discursive
counter-discursive
expressive expr
traditions
traditions mitigate
mitigate
against
against
such disappearance.
such disappearance.
KubayandaKubayanda
recon- r
nects
nectsourourdiscussion
discussion
withwith
a pan-American
a pan-American
consciousness
consciousness
when he wh
states,
states,"the
"theBlack
Blackminority
minority
literature
literature
of Latinof
America
Latin introduces
America intr
fresh Afrocentric discursive features for an affirmation of a 'minor
self' against the possibilities of cultural disappearance" (121). Some
of these Afrocentric discursive features can be seen as the use of the
legend of the Flying Africans and other historical elements which
Marshall and Morrison so actively integrate into their novelistic dis-
course. In his essay, "Discourse in the Novel," M.M. Bakhtin speaks
of "incorporated genres" which intensify speech diversity in novelis-
tic discourse (347). The inclusion of such Afrocentric discursive fea-
tures as the legend of the Flying Africans (as well as rituals, conjure,
herbal medicines, or even kinetic or performative acts like the Ring
Shout or Big Drum dance) can be seen as these "incorporated genres"
which disrupt a Eurocentered novelistic discourse. Morrison explicit-
ly identifies this disruption as part of her desire as an author: "I want
to break from certain assumptions that are inherent in the conception
of the novel form to make a truly aural novel, in which there are so
many places and spaces for the reader to work and participate" (Ruas
233). Thus, part of Morrison's reason for introducing this disruption
is in line with principles of African art and storytelling in which the
audience and the artist maintain an interactive relationship. Morri-
son elaborates the point further: "I try to incorporate into that tradi-
tional genre the novel, unorthodox novelistic characteristics-so that
it is, in my view, Black, because it uses the characteristics of Black
art...I wish there were ways in which such things could be talked
about in the criticism" ("Rootedness" 342).
It is vital to see that this "use" of the past, this incorporation of cul-
tural memory into literature is essentially forward looking, and in
this way it is a crucial part of culture building. Both Morrison and
Marshall, in line with many other African American, Afro-Caribbean,
Afro-Latin, and Latin American writers, tie their work to revolution-
ary, or at least transformative, political and cultural goals. Marshall
states, "'...the past is important to me because I'm really convinced
one has to engage the past if you are going to shape a future that re-
flects you. You have to deal with it rather than accept the kind of past
that has been fostered [sic] upon us by white historians"' (qtd. in De
Veaux 128). It is specifically through their literature that African
American novelists not only "deal with" their past, but produce a

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
24 WENDY W. WALTERS
counter-discursive
counter-discursivehistoriography-thus
historiography-thusMarshall's
Marshall's
previous
previous
em- e
phasis
phasis on
on interpreting
interpretingthe
the
past
past
in in
heroic
heroicterms
terms
rather
rather
thanthan
terms
terms
of
resignation
resignationororimpotence.
impotence. Morrison
Morrison tootoo
seessees
thisthis
transformative
transformative
po- p
tential
tential inin the
thenovel
novelasaswritten
written byby (and
(and
for)
for)
black
black
people
people
when when
she
states,
states, "'The
"'Thenovel
novelhas
hastoto
provide
provide thetherichness
richness
of the
of the
pastpast
as well
as well
as
suggestions
suggestionsof ofwhat
whatthe
theuse
use
ofofit it
is. is.
I try
I try
to create
to create
a world
a world
in which
in which
it
is comfortable
comfortableto tododoboth,
both, toto
listen
listen to to
thethe
ancestry
ancestry
and and
to mark
to mark
out
what
what might
mightbe
begoing
goingonon
sixty
sixty
oror
one
one
hundred
hundred
years
years
from
from
now"'
now
(Ruas 238).
This vision of art as crucially tied to social change is another char-
acteristic linking the works of oppressed diasporic communities
throughout the Americas and the Caribbean. Gayl Jones asserts that
both Latin American and African American writers "combine aes-
thetics with social motive" (Liberating Voices 2). Marshall quotes Car-
los Fuentes: "'[H]istorical progression is inseparable from cultural
roots"' and she interprets him to mean "that an oppressed people
cannot overcome their oppressors and take control of their lives until
they have a clear and truthful picture of all that has gone before, un-
til they begin to use their history creatively" ("Shaping the World of
My Art" 107). Creatively, and I would add as well as counter-discur-
sively. "Clear and truthful" represents what hegemonic historiogra-
phy has not recorded.18 In order to accept the legend of the Flying
Africans as empowered resistance we must break with a Western sci-
entific ordering of reality. Latin American magic realism is similarly
part of a new vision, a counter-discursive way of seeing. Kubayanda
states that, "Black Latin American minority discourse forces us as
readers to reconsider some of the so-called 'universals' of history, to
abandon monolithic reading, and to open our minds to multiple
readings of reality" (130). Only when our minds are open to these
multiple levels of reality can we revise hegemonic historiography to
allow for Africans who flew away from slavery or walked on water
back to Africa. Such a revision makes possible the more empowered
version of slave resistance which Levine has suggested. Barbara
Christian calls attention to the way that "Marshall develops Avey
Avatara Johnson's journey to wholeness by juxtaposing external real-
ity with memory, dream, hallucination-disjointed states of mind in
which the past and the present fuse" (150). An acceptance of these
multiple levels of reality is not only potentially revolutionary but
necessary for wholeness.
Abena Busia refers to our ability "to recognize the cultural signs of
a past left littered along our roads of doubtful progress" to reconnect
the "seemingly meaningless rituals" and "fragmented memories" as
a knowledge of, an attainment of, "diaspora literacy" (197, 207).19 Not

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
only
onlymust
mustMilkman
Milkman and and
AveyAvey
develop
develop
diasporadiaspora
literacy, but
literacy,
so too but so
must
mustMarshall's
Marshall'sandand
Morrison's
Morrison's
readers
readers
(and of (and
courseof
so course
too mustso too m
all
all readers
readers ofof diasporic
diasporic literatures).
literatures).
Morrison'sMorrison's
and Marshall's
and Marshall's
trans- t
formations
formations andand
dynamic
dynamic reinscriptions
reinscriptions
of the legend
of the oflegend
the Flying
of the F
Africans,
Africans, become
become partpartof "aof transformative
"a transformative mode that modehas the
that
capaci-
has the
ty
ty both
bothtoto register
register and and
to engage
to engage
criticallycritically
with thewith presentthe
andpresent
to
generate
generate a new
a new wayway of seeing"
of seeing"
(Sangari(Sangari
162). My162).
own My formulation
own formulat
of
this
thistransformation
transformation is that
is that
it is ait
gift.20
is a gift.20
Busia shares
Busia this
shares
conceptual-
this conc
ization
izationwhen
when sheshe
explains
explains
that through
that through
developing developing
diaspora literacy
diaspora lit
via
via the
theactactof of
reading
reading and drawing
and drawing these connections
these connections
and identifica-
and iden
tions,
tions,thethedemands
demands of the
of past
the can
past becan
"transformed
be "transformed
into a giftinto
for the
a gift f
future"
future"(198).
(198).
PartPart
of this
of this
gift could
gift becould
seen be
as aseen
reshaping
as a reshaping
of the in- of t
stitutional
stitutional disciplinary
disciplinary understanding
understanding of American
of American
literature literature
and lit- a
erary
eraryinfluences.
influences. Recognized
Recognized as counter-discursive
as counter-discursive
historiography,
historiogra
the
thelegend
legend of of
thethe
FlyingFlying
Africans
Africans
fits into fits
a broader
into a project
broader of project
pan- o
ethnic,
ethnic,anti-racist
anti-racist literary
literary
studies.
studies.
Julius Lester
Juliusreminds
Lester us reminds
that the us th
struggle
struggleagainst
against racism
racismis byisnoby means
no means
over, and over,
his ending
and histo "Peo-
ending t
ple
ple Who
WhoCouldCould Fly"Fly"
extends
extends
the import
the import
of the legend
of the tolegend
the present
to the p
day:
day:"[W]ho
"[W]ho knows?
knows? Maybe Maybe
one morning
one morningsomeonesomeone
will awakewill
withawake
a w
strange
strangewordword on on
his his
tonguetongue
and, uttering
and, uttering
it, we will
it,all
we stretch
will all
outstretch
our
arms
armsand and take
taketo the
to theair, leaving
air, leaving
these blood-drenched
these blood-drenchedfields of our
fields
misery
miserybehind"
behind" (152).
(152).
II am
amgrateful
gratefulto Sherley
to Sherley
AnneAnne
Williams
Williams
and George
andLipsitzfor
George Lipsitzfor
their help- thei
ful
ful comments
commentson on
earlier
earlier
versions
versions
of thisof
essay.
this essay.
Notes
1 Henry Louis Gates, Jr., in his Introduction to Talk That Talk defines a culture's
canonical tales as "the tales that contain the cultural codes that are assumed or
internalized by members of that culture" (18).
2. I am influenced here by Jose David Saldivar's discussion of comparative cul-
tural studies in his The Dialectics of Our America: Genealogy, Cultural Critique,
and Literary History.
3. Saldivar identifies "the extended Caribbean" as a term coined by Immanuel
Wallerstein, and defines the region as, "a coastal and insular region stretching
from southern Virginia to easternmost Brazil" (Saldivar 103).
4. Scholars and writers who have begun this work include Saldivar, Shange,
Jones (Corregidora), Marshall (Soul Clap Hands and Sing), and Coser.
5. See also Trudier Harris, Fiction and Folklore: The Novels of Toni Morrison. Her
chapter "Literary History and Literary Folklore" offers a good overview of the
various positions taken by folklorists studying folklore in literature, as well as
a survey of earlier African American authors who used folklore or folk forms
in their writing.
6. Examples of this mode of inquiry are Richard Dorson's contribution to "Folk-

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
26 WENDY W. WALTERS
lore
lore in
inLiterature:
Literature:A Symposium"
A Symposium" wherewhere
he presents
he presents
three kinds
threeofkinds
evidence
of to
evidenc
test
test whether
whether the
the
literary
literary
author
author
actually
actually
came in
came
contact
in contact
with thewith
oral lore
the (5).
oral lore (
Twenty-two
Twenty-two years
years
later
later
Daniel
Daniel
Barnes
Barnes
continues
continues
to pursue
to pursue
this separation
this separatio
in
his
his article,
article,"Toward
"Towardthethe
Establishment
Establishment
of Principles
of Principles
for thefor
Study
theofStudy
Folklore
of Folk
and Literature."
7. To be fair to folklore scholarship, Dan Ben-Amos, in his 1971 article, "Toward a
Definition of Folklore in Context," sees folklore materials as "mobile, manipu-
lative, and transcultural" and calls for a recognition of "the real social and lit-
erary interchange between cultures and artistic media and channels of com-
munication. In reality, oral texts cross into the domain of written literature and
the plastic and musical arts; conversely, the oral circulation of songs and tales
has been affected by print" (14). Despite this acknowledgment, however, Ben-
Amos still draws the territorial line in claiming that an element "ceases to be
folklore because there is a change in its communicative context" (14).
8. Key parts of Marshall's Praisesongfor the Widow take place in fictional Tatem,
South Carolina; and African American filmmaker Julie Dash's film, "Daugh-
ters of the Dust" also takes place on the Sea Island of St. Helena.
9. In calling Gullah culture unique I do not mean to imply that the Sea Islands
were the only areas where Africanisms were retained among slaves. Rather,
the Sea Islands became a concentrated focus area for researchers.
10. See for example Sterling Stuckey's Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the
Foundations of Black America.
11. African American author Toni Cade Bambara's The Salt Eaters bears this refer-
ence in its title.
12. See also Wilentz (22).
13. Wilentz, in her research, has come to a similar conclusion. She states that
"(Problems with documentation stem from eurocentric/scientific bias to the
destruction of sites, such as the controversy over the waste water plant at Ibo
Landing in South Carolina.)" (22).
14. Many critics have written about the theme of flight in Song of Solomon, some in
terms of European mythic traditions, others from a more Afrocentric perspec-
tive.
15. This comment was made in an oral presentation titled, "The Ring Shout, the
Big Drum, and the Nation Dance: Cultural Synthesis in Praisesong for the Widow."
16. Julie Dash's film "Daughters of the Dust" takes place on the Sea Island St. He-
lena in the late 1890s, and focuses on the relationships in a Gullah family. The
words which are carefully repeated by the child's narrating voice throughout
the film are "recall, remember, recollect", in order to emphasize the impor-
tance of a connection to the past via orality, born by memory. The story of Ibo
Landing is part of the past which is recounted in the film, and this version
which Eula relates is strikingly similar to Marshall's telling in Praisesong for the
Widow. The Ibos in both these two variants are omniscient when they arrive in
the Sea Islands and refuse slavery by turning and walking on the water back to
Africa.
17. While I think it is important to see the ways that the legend is questioned or re-
vised by black women novelists, I do not mean to suggest a negative stigma to
the concept of pure repetition itself. James Snead's article, "Repetition as a Fig-
ure of Black Culture" makes the point that "In European culture, repetition
must be seen to be not just circulation and flow but accumulation and growth.
In black culture, the thing (the ritual, the dance, the beat) is 'there for you to
pick it up when you come back to get it"' (67). For Milkman, the inexhaustibly

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
repeating
repeating circular
circular
rhyming
rhyming
game game
of the of
children
the children
is there for
is him
there
to pick
for it
him
up, to
to pick it
then
thenuseuse
toto
make
makesense
sense
of his
ofownhislife.
own For
life.
Avey,
FortheAvey,
Big Drum
the circular
Big Drum dancecircular
on
on Carriacou
Carriacouis there
is there
for her
fortoher enter,
to enter,
and she and
will begin
she will
her Great
beginAunt's
her Great
tale Aun
"as
"as had
hadbeen
beenordained"
ordained"
with with
the repeated
the repeated
words ofwords
Cuney'sof grandmother.
Cuney's grandmoth
Snead
Sneadreminds
reminds us that
us that
the shape
the shape
of return
of return
is the circle
is the
(71),circle
and Marshall's
(71), and ex-Marshal
plicit
plicittheme
themein in
all her
all her
novels
novels
is a psychological/
is a psychological/
spiritual return,
spiritual
which
return,
is suchwhich
aa resonant
resonant symbol
symbol throughout
throughout
diasporic
diasporic
consciousness.
consciousness.
18. Jones also draws connections between Morrison's and Fuentes's work and
compares Ixca Cienfuegos, a character in Fuentes's Where the Air is Clear, to
Morrison's Milkman Dead (175-6).
19. Busia footnotes this term as borrowed from fellow scholar VeVe Clark who
used it in an oral presentation. See Clark's essay, "Developing Diaspora Liter-
acy and Marasa Consciousness."
Works Cited
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture.

New York: Oxford UP, 1992.
Bakhtin, M.M. The Dialogic Imagination. Ed. Michael Holquist, Trans. Caryl Emerson
and Michael Holquist. Austin: U of Texas P, 1981.
Bambara, Toni Cade. The Salt Eaters. New York: Vintage, 1980.
Ben-Amos, Dan. "Toward a Definition of Folklore in Context." Journal of American
Folklore. 84.331 (Jan-Mar 1971): 3-15.
Blake, Susan L. "Folklore and Community in Song of Solomon." MELUS 7.3 (Fall
1980): 71-82
Breinburg, Petronella. Legends of Suriname. London: New Beacon, 1971.
Brewer, J. Mason. American Negro Folklore. New York: Quadrangle, 1968.
Busia, Abena P.A. "What is Your Nation?: Reconnecting Africa and Her Diaspora
through Paule Marshall's Praisesongfor the Widow." Changing Our Own
Words: Essays on Criticism, Theory and Writing by Black Women. Ed. Cheryl
A. Wall. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1989. 196-211.
Christian, Barbara. Black Feminist Criticism: Perspectives on Black Women Writers. New
York: Pergamon, 1985.
Clark, VeVe A. "Developing Diaspora Literacy and Marasa Consciousness." Com-
parative American Identities: Race, Sex, and Nationality in the Modern Text.
Ed. and Intro. Hortense J. Spillers. New York: Routledge, 1991. 40-61.
Cliff, Michelle. Abeng. New York: Dutton/Obelisk, 1984.
Clifford, James. The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth-Century Ethnography, Literature,
and Art. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1988.
Coser, Stelamaris. "Bridging the Americas: The Literature of Paule Marshall, Toni
Morrison, and Gayl Jones." Diss. U of Minnesota, 1991.
Daughters of the Dust. Dir. Julie Dash. Kino International Corporation, 1992.
De Veaux, Alexis. "Paule Marshall: In Celebration of Our Triumph." Essence 10.1
(May 1979): 70-135.
Dorson, Richard M. American Negro Folktales. Greenwich: Fawcett, 1956.
."The Identification of Folklore in American Literature." In "Folklore in Lit-
erature: A Symposium." Journal of American Folklore 70.275 (Jan-Mar 1957):
1-8.

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
28 WENDY W. WALTERS
Drake,
Drake,St.
St.Clair.
Clair.
"Diaspora
"Diaspora
Studies
Studies
and Pan-Africanism."
and Pan-Africanism."
Global Dimensions
Global Dimensions
of the of the
African
AfricanDiaspora.
Diaspora.
Ed. Ed.
Joseph
Joseph
E. Harris.
E. Harris.
Washington,
Washington,
D.C.: Howard
D.C.:UP,
Howard
1982. UP, 198
341-402.
Drums and Shadows: Survival Studies among the Georgia Coastal Negroes. 1940. Savan-
nah Unit Georgia Writers' Project. Intro. Charles Joyner. Athens: Brown-
Thrasher, U of Georgia P, 1986.
Fischer, Michael M.J. "Ethnicity and the Post-Modern Arts of Memory." Writing Cul-
ture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Ed. James Clifford and George
E. Marcus. Berkeley: U California P, 1986. 194-233.
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. "Introduction: Narration and Cultural Memory in the
African-American Tradition." Talk That Talk. Ed. Linda Goss and Marian E.
Barnes. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989. 15-19.
Hamilton, Virginia. The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales. New York: Knopf,
1985.
Harris, Trudier. Fiction and Folklore: The Novels of Toni Morrison. Knoxville: U of Ten-
nessee P, 1991.
Hayden, Robert. Collected Poems. Ed. Frederick Glaysher. New York: Liveright, 1985.
Hoffman, Daniel G. "Folklore in Literature: Notes Toward a Theory of Interpreta-
tion." In "Folklore in Literature: A Symposium." Journal of American Folk-
lore. 70.275 (Jan-Mar 1957): 15-21.
Jackson, Juanita, Sabra Slaughter, and J. Herman Blake. "The Sea Islands as a Cul-
tural Resource." The Black Scholar 5.6 (March 1974): 32-39.
Jones, Gayl. Corregidora. Boston: Beacon, 1975.
Liberating Voices: Oral Tradition in African American Literature. Cambridge:
Harvard UP, 1991.
Jones-Jackson, Patricia. When Roots Die: Endangered Traditions on the Sea Islands. Fore-
ward by Charles Joyner. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1987.
Kubayanda, Josaphat. "Minority Discourse and the African Collective: Some Exam-
ples from Latin American and Caribbean Literature." Cultural Critique 6
(Spring 1987): 113-130.
Levine, Lawrence. Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought
from Slavery to Freedom. New York: Oxford UP, 1977.
Lester, Julius. Black Folktales. New York: Grove, 1969.
Limon, Jos6. "Western Marxism and Folklore: A Critical Introduction." Journal of
American Folklore 96.379 (Jan-Mar 1983): 34-52.
Marshall, Paule. "From the Poets in the Kitchen." Reena and Other Stories. Old West-
bury: The Feminist P, 1983. 3-12.
Praisesongfor the Widow. New York: Dutton, 1983.
"The Ring Shout, the Big Drum, and the Nation Dance: Cultural Synthesis
in Praisesongfor the Widow." Paper presented at the "Looking Back with
Pleasure" Symposium. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT. 28 October
1989.
"Shaping the World of My Art." New Letters 40.1 (October 1973): 97-112.
.Soul Clap Hands and Sing. 1971. New York: Howard UP, 1988.
Minh-ha, Trinh. Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism. Bloom-
ington: Indiana UP, 1989.
Mobley, Marilyn Sanders. Folk Roots and Mythic Wings in Sarah Orne Jewett and Toni
Morrison: The Cultural Function of Narrative. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
UP, 1991.

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC
Montejo,
Montejo, Esteban.
Esteban.
Autobiography
Autobiography
of a Runaway
of a Runaway
Slave. Ed. Miguel
Slave. Barnet.
Ed. Miguel
Trans. Barnet.
Jocas- Trans. Jocas-
ta
ta Innes.
Innes.London:
London:
The The
Bodley
Bodley
Head, 1968.
Head, 1968.
Morrison,
Morrison, Toni.
Toni.
"City
"City
Limits,
Limits,
VillageVillage
Values: Concepts
Values: of
Concepts
the Neighborhood
of the Neighborhood
in in
Black
BlackFiction."
Fiction."Literature
Literature
and the
andUrban
the Experience:
Urban Experience:
Essays on the
Essays
City and
on Lit-
the City and Lit-
erature.
erature.Ed.Ed.
Michael
Michael
C. Jaye
C. Jaye
and Ann
andChalmers
Ann Chalmers
Watts. NewWatts.
Brunswick:
New Brunswick:
Rutgers
RutgersUP,UP,1981.
1981.
35-43.
35-43.
"Rootedness:
"Rootedness: TheThe
Ancestor
Ancestor
as Foundation."
as Foundation."
Black Women
BlackWriters
Women (1950-
Writers (1950-
1980):
1980):AACritical
Critical
Evaluation.
Evaluation.
Ed. Mari
Ed.Evans.
MariGarden
Evans.City:
Garden
Anchor/Double-
City: Anchor/Double-
day,
day,1984.
1984.
339-345.
339-345.
Song
SongofofSolomon.
Solomon.
NewNewYork:York:
Signet/NAL,
Signet/NAL,
1977. 1977.
."Unspeakable
."Unspeakable Things
Things
Unspoken:
Unspoken:
The Afro-American
The Afro-American
Presence in Presence
Ameri- in Ameri-
can
canLiterature."
Literature."
Michigan
Michigan
Quarterly
Quarterly
Review 28.1
Review
(Winter
28.1
1989):
(Winter
1-34. 1989): 1-34.
Porter,
Porter,Kenneth.
Kenneth. "The"The
Flying
Flying
Africans."
Africans."
Primerfor
Primerfor
White Folks.
White
Ed. Bucklin
Folks.Moon.
Ed. Bucklin Moon.
Garden
GardenCity:
City:
Doubleday,
Doubleday,
1945. 1945.
Roberts,
Roberts, John
John
W. W.
From
From
Trickster
Trickster
to Badman:
to Badman:
The Black The
Folk Hero
BlackinFolk
Slavery
Hero
and in
Freedom.
Slavery and Freedom.
Philadelphia:
Philadelphia: U of
U Pennsylvania
of Pennsylvania
P, 1989.P, 1989.
Robinson,
Robinson, Beverly.
Beverly.
"Africanisms
"Africanisms
and theand
Study
the
of Study
Folklore."
of Africanisms
Folklore." in
Africanisms
American in American
Culture.
Culture. Ed.Ed.
Joseph
Joseph
E. Holloway.
E. Holloway.
Bloomington:
Bloomington:
Indiana UP,Indiana
1990. 211-224.
UP, 1990. 211-224.
Ruas,
Ruas,Charles.
Charles.
Conversations
Conversations
with American
with American
Writers. New
Writers.
York: Knopf,
New York:
1985. Knopf, 1985.
Saldivar,
Saldivar, Jose
Jose
David.
David.
The Dialectics
The Dialectics
of Our America:
of Our America:
Genealogy, Genealogy,
Cultural Critique,
Cultural
and Critique, and
Literary
Literary History.
History.
Durham:
Durham:
Duke UP,
Duke1991.
UP, 1991.
Sangari,
Sangari,Kumkum.
Kumkum. "The"The
Politics
Politics
of the Possible."
of the Possible."
Cultural Critique
Cultural
7 (Fall
Critique
1987): 157-
7 (Fall 1987): 157-
186.
186.
Schuler,
Schuler, Monica.
Monica.
'Alas,
'Alas,
Alas, Alas,
Kongo':Kongo':
A Social A
History
SocialofHistory
Indentured
of African
Indentured
Immigration
African Immigration
into
intoJamaica,
Jamaica, 1841-1865.
1841-1865.
Baltimore:
Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins
Johns UP,
Hopkins
1980. UP, 1980.
Scott,
Scott,James
JamesC. Domination
C. Domination and the
and
Artsthe
of Arts
Resistance:
of Resistance:
Hidden Transcripts.
HiddenNew Transcripts.
Haven: New Haven:
Yale
YaleUP,
UP,1990.
1990.
Semmes,
Semmes, Clovis
Clovis
E. "Foundations
E. "Foundations
of an Afrocentric
of an Afrocentric
Social Science:
Social
Implications
Science:for
Implications for
Curriculum-Building,
Curriculum-Building, Theory,
Theory,
and Research
and Research
in Black Studies."
in BlackJournal
Studies."
of Journal of
Black
BlackStudies
Studies12.112.1
(September
(September
1981): 3-17.
1981): 3-17.
Seward,
Seward,Adrienne
Adrienne Lanier.
Lanier.
"The Legacy
"The Legacy
of Early ofAfro-American
Early Afro-American
Folklore Scholar-
Folklore Scholar-
ship."
ship."Handbook
Handbook of American
of American
Folklore.
Folklore.
Ed. Richard
Ed.Dorson.
Richard
Bloomington:
Dorson. Bloomington:
In- In-
diana
dianaUP,
UP,1983.
1983.
48-56.
48-56.
Smith,
Smith,Valerie.
Valerie.Self-Discovery
Self-Discovery
and Authority
and Authority
in Afro-American
in Afro-American
Narrative. Cambridge:
Narrative. Cambridge:
Harvard
HarvardUP, UP,
1987.
1987.
Snead,
Snead,James
James A. "Repetition
A. "Repetition
as a Figure
as a of
Figure
Black of
Culture."
BlackBlack
Culture."
Literature
Black
andLiterature
Liter- and Liter-
ary
aryTheory.
Theory.Ed.Ed.
HenryHenry
Louis Louis
Gates, Gates,
Jr. NewJr.
York:
NewMethuen,
York:1984.
Methuen,
59-79. 1984. 59-79.
Stepto,
Stepto,Robert.
Robert."'Intimate
"'Intimate
ThingsThings
in Place':inAPlace':
Conversation
A Conversation
with Toni Morrison."
with Toni Morrison."
Chant
Chantofof
Saints:
Saints:
A Gathering
A Gathering
of Afro-American
of Afro-American
Literature,Literature,
Art, and Scholarship.
Art, and Scholarship.
eds.
eds.Michael
MichaelS. Harper
S. Harper
and Robert
and Robert
Stepto. Stepto.
Urbana: UUrbana:
of IllinoisUP,of1979.
Illinois P, 1979.
213-229.
Stuckey, Sterling. Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black
America. New York: Oxford UP, 1987.
Wilentz, Gay. "If You Surrender to the Air: Folk Legends of Flight and Resistance in
African American Literature." MELUS 16.1 (Spring 1989-1990): 21-32.

5.152.213.186 on Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC

This Content Downloaded From 5.152.213.186 On Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

This Content Downloaded From 5.152.213.186 On Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

This Content Downloaded From 5.152.213.186 On Fri, 31 Mar 2023 23:37:22 UTC

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

"One of Dese Mornings, Bright and Fair,/Take My Wings and Cleave De Air": The

Legend of the Flying Africans and Diasporic Consciousness

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/467652

This content downloaded from

"O Daedalus, Fly Away Home"

MELUS, Volume 22, Number 3 (Fall 1997)

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

tence in America" (120). Kubayanda's re-statement of Cesaire's the

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

'gabble, gabble, gabble, an' nobody couldn't unduhstan' um an' dey

Without knowing anything about the folklore collector, it is hard to

This content downloaded from

Two other short versions recorded by Schuler are revealing in t

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

I heard about the flying man up in Arkansas, at Jonesboro. The polices

This content downloaded from

For an understanding of the post-slave generations, the history of slave

The revisionary impulse in the oral tradition is what Morrison an

This content downloaded from

At this point the words are nonsense, meaningless rhymes to Mi

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

While he dreamt of flying, Hagar was dying. Sweet's silvery voice

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

Appiah, Kwame Anthony. In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture.

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

This content downloaded from

You might also like