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November 06, 2005
Uncle Remus short stories
These were interesting reads in that I got better at translating as I went along. The first one I read I had to read it twice to understand, but by the last one I was pretty good at translating.
If I was to read this without the information that these have something to do with Racial issues I would not see it in the stories. And this is exactly how it was supposed to be. After reading the Virginia State site posted by Jerz I understood that the people who told these stories were black and they needed to get their messages spread quickly and secretly. What better way to do it than tell simple stories about animals?
"The Wonderful Tar-Baby" really stuck out to me compared to the others. Although "Why the Negro is black" was entertaining "The Wonderful Tar-Baby" was a story that stuck out to me as a representation of what the black people were to do. The message is: "lay low" and deal with all the stuff that white people put us through and then one day when the time is right; overcome. This story kinda reminded me of when the slaves were running to the north for freedom and people put certain patterns on quilts to show that they were there to help them.
Posted by MichelleKoss at November 6, 2005 07:37 PM
Comments
Good info michelle, you really researched this. I remember to they were called "safehouses" and people would also put candles in their windows. I think that jim did alot of laying low as well, but like other slaves, he evenutally was able to get what he wanted. They had to be clever, or risk their lives. The animals were really helpful, i agree.
Posted by: Erin at November 8, 2005 06:04 PM
Yes I really believe that the story without the animals would be a very different story and maybe the stories wouldn't have lasted that long. Everyone can tell stories about animals and the stories can be interpereted as meaningless.
Posted by: michelle koss at November 10, 2005 11:44 PM