Just Plain Folks by Lorraine Johnson-Coleman

Author:Lorraine Johnson-Coleman [JOHNSON-COLEMAN, LORRAINE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC029000
ISBN: 9780446930581
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Published: 2000-06-28T04:00:00+00:00

AFTERTHOUGHTS

Folk tales exist in every culture and for most of human history were the way of passing on wisdom from generation to generation. This oral tradition existed long before the written word, and it continues today. For many, the African American folk tale is synonymous exclusively with the Brer Rabbit tale. But we African Americans were far more creative than that, and we always gave the supernatural a free rein in our folklore. The Devil was frequently personified and made quite human; we taunted him as much as he taunted us, and often we emerged the victor. The famous “John” stories are some of my favorite slave tales, as our ancestors created their own venues for besting their white masters, even if the victory was limited to their own imagination.

Folklorists such as Zora Neal Hurston and J. Mason Brewer were among the first African Americans to collect African American folklore and recognize its cultural significance. “Miz Lullabel, the Devil, and the Sunday Hat” was one of the tales collected by Zora Neal Hurston, but the story itself has been around a long time, and she herself didn’t create it — she just documented the version she was told. Like any good storyteller, I have taken this tale and put my own twist on it.

When I perform this story, I always include an introduction that allows the listener to imagine those people and that place. “We’re in North Carolina, and the year is nineteen twenty. We’re sitting on the front porch, a bunch of country folks entertaining ourselves on a hot summer evening, when all of a sudden Miz Martha’s sixteen-year-old daughter comes running down the walk as excited as excited can be. She’s got big news, and she can’t wait to share it.

“Mama, Mama, guess what, I’m getting married! I’m getting married, Mama — ain’t that wonderful?”

Miz Martha then looks at her daughter and shakes her head in disbelief. “Girl, you don’t know nothin’ ’bout marriage. You can’t take care of yourself, much less nobody else. You ain’t got what it takes to be getting married.”

But her daughter disagrees. “Yes I do, Mama. I got all I need. I got the man, the preacher, and the Kool-Aid — I’m getting married.”

Miz Martha shakes her head again and then she says slowly, “Sit down, chile, I got some things to tell you. First, this thing called marriage is between you and him. If you let a third person in the middle of it, you’ve got nothin’ but trouble. You got to understand that — and to make sure you do, I’m gonna tell you a story. Well, you see, one day Miz Lullabel was sittin’ on the porch . . .” And so the truth-telling begins.

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