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The social structure of the 1930-40 was heavily based on discrimination and the appearance of segregation and racial discrimination, along with the discrimination of women. This made it very difficult throughout the early 1900s as a black woman to have a job, consistent husband, or respect.

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Similar to the ideals of racial discrimination, discrimination and sexualization of women was very common throughout the entire United States. Without the right to vote, own land, or the respect of the general public, being a woman during the time period of the book was difficult, especially as the colored women the main character, Janie, is in the book. She struggles to gain respect and a sense of self throughout the book because of the beliefs of her current husband as they try to diminish her sense of self.

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https://portside.org/2020-07-16/southern-key-class-race-radicalism-1930s-1940s

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Otto Bettman, Bettman Archive 1914

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Racial discrimination in the south was extraordinarily common. Work, owning land, and general life ideals where incredibly hard to gain respect for as a colored person in the United States. White supremacy, and the ideals of terrorism where heavily used to discriminate against colored people.

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Effects of the Great Depression varied from town to town, but overall caused social and economical change across the country. During this time, it was easy for families to fall into poverty, starvation, and job loss.

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In the south, both historically and in modern times, the spread of folk tales and rumors developed social beliefs and morals. Ever since the American Civil war, as northern states went into an Industrial Revolution, southern states stayed at a standstill, leaning into folklore and stories and staying with previous values.

('Folklore in Literature')

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“The mule almost got fat and they took great pride in him. New lies sprung up about his free mule doings. How he pushed open Lindsay’s kitchen door and slept in the place one night and fought until they made coffee for his breakfast; how he snuck his head in Pearson’s window while the family was at the table and Mrs. Pearson mistook him for Rev. Pearson and handed him a plate; he ran Mrs. Tully off the croquet ground for having such an ugly shape; he ran and caught up with Becky Anderson on the way to Maitland so as to keep his head out of the sun under her umbrella; he got tired of listening to Redmonds long-winded prayer, and went inside the baptist church ad broke up the meeting, he did everything but let him be bridled and visit Matt Bonner.”

(Hurston 59)

This quote shows the eccentric nature in which people as a whole entertained themselves. 5hey would make up stories and songs to make it seem like everything was okay and they weren’t trying harder than others just to be more equal to white people. The mule is a funny story that states their nature of being united as a community, they all shared in this story and didn’t fight about how it was clearly made up.

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“You had to be [aware of underhanded expectations around race]. You knew it was strictly separate and not equal, in everything. Some rules were written, but they were all taught to you. And your parents made sure you understood. Like, if a white person was coming through the door and you were getting ready to go through the door, you had to back back and let them go.”

(Avery 13)

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“[Y]ou know, there was that point where it was very clear that the families did not want their children to get too mixed up with diversity. So, that was a little bit different. In the meantime, there were the social experiences I had growing up in a Black church that was in a white institution—the United Methodist Church is still part of the white institution. But they had Black churches, because, of course, they did not want Black pastors in white churches.”

(Avery 41)

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“Before she slept that night she burnt up every one of her head reads and went about the house next morning with her hair in one this braid swinging well below her waist. That was the only change people saw in her.”

(Hurston 89)

This is a show of her feelings of not being controlled anymore. Just as Jody left her, she left the head rags that he left behind, a symbol of his controlling behavior all the way until the end. She was finally free from his control, that was the message she was sending.

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Otto Bettman, Bettman Archive 1914

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“Den you want tuh be keerful, womenfolks is easy taken advantage of.”

(Hurston 91)

The thought that women were always so easy to take advantage of was from the endless control of men. They would control women until they had no say anymore, they didn’t want to speak up because they would have consequences. They were so fearful that they were turned into someone that could easily be taken advantage of.

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“The town had a basket full of feeling, good and bad about Joe’s positions and possessions, but none had the temerity to challenge him. They all bowed down to him rather, because he was all of these things, and then again he was all of these things because the town bowed down.”

(Hurston 50)

The town was scared of him, the things he would do if they ever even thought about standing up to him. They all bowed down to him but he was only the mayor and had all this power because of the people bowing to him. He came to the town with big ideas and dreams to be mayor, but Jody liked the power and that sometimes got to his head and made bad decisions, that’s why the town neither liked nor disliked him as a mayor.

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“Long before the year was up, Janie noticed that her husband had stopped talking in rhymes to her. He had ceased to wonder at her long black hair.”

(Hurston 26)

Her husband slowly stopped showing interest in her when it became less exiting for him. He wanted her when it was fun and exhilarating but when it turned into the boring concept of marriage he lost interest. He thought she would just be there and he didn’t need to keep up the work to keep her interested in him.

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“The business of the head-rag irked her endlessly, but Jody was set on it. Her hair was NOT going to show in the store. It didn’t seem sensible at all.”

(Hurston 55)

Women were endlessly treated as objects. Jody continuously showed that he could control Janie, what she wore, what she said, how she acted, was all controlled by Jody. She didn’t like the head rag, it was uncomfortable and covered her long hair that she was so proud of, but Jody didn’t care. He was so jealous of other men staring that he didn’t think of her feelings.

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“I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.

(Lee 230)

This shows that some people were racist but others didn’t align with those ideals.some thought people were just people, no one was above others because of the way they were born or what their skin color was.

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https://padlet.com/270504_19/southern-cultural-expectations-1qk94zjlbt9yopnw/wish/do3MQJ4RBrg6W15w

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“Cry about the simple hell people give other people—without even thinking. Cry about the hell white people give colored folks, without even stopping to think these their people too.”

(Lee 205)

White people thought they could treat colored people any way they wanted, just because they thought colored people didn’t have feelings. They thought colored people were beneath them just because of their skin color, but never stopped to think that colored people are the same as them, just different on the outside.

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“Mockingbirds don’t do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up peoples gardens, don’t nest in corn cribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.”

(Lee 119)

Mockingbirds were a value in to kill a mockingbird. It’s an insinuation to other things that just make us happy, and instead of killing it or killing its spirit, we should just sit and enjoy. Enjoy the life given to us instead of destroying things that were never supposed to be destroyed.

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Otto Bettman, Bettman Archive 1914

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“If there’s just one kind of folks, why can’t they get along with each other? If they’re all alike why do they go out of their way to despise each other?”

(Lee 231)

This refers to the violence colored people faced. The physical and mental trauma that white people placed onto them. White people despised colored people just because they thought they were different but they weren’t only on the outside. Their ideals and way of life were only slightly different and how they acted was only because of racism.

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African American folktale, storytelling tradition that evolved among enslaved African Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries.

When slaves arrived in the New World from Africa in the 1700s and 1800s, they brought with them a vast oral tradition. The details and characters of the stories evolved over time in the Americas, though many of the motifs endured. The African hare, for example, continued to play the trickster but became Brer Rabbit (or Bruh Rabbit). The African jackal became the American fox. And the African tortoise became a turtle or terrapin. Even with modifications, however, those tales carried from Africa retained a distinctive flavour.

African traditions

Most slaveholders forcibly suppressed the languages, customs, and cultures of the individuals they enslaved. Black slaves often turned to singing and storytelling as a means of expression, as they had traditionally done in Africa. Their nightly entertainment included tales about the world's creation, heroic deeds, and magic. Those stories took the form of parables, which conveyed ideals, morals, and cultural values to the listener.

One type of African American folktale explains why animals look or act the way they do. Common in other cultures as well, those tales-such as "Why the Lizard Often Nods" and "Why the Owl Never Sleeps at Night" are often amusing and attempt to explain common animal behaviour.

Another type, the "how-and-why" story, is filled with hidden messages and offers moral guidance. "Tappin, the Land Turtle," for instance, includes references to the brutality of slavery and explains how hope and humour make the circumstance more bearable. Other how-and-why tales include "Why Women Always Take Advantage of Men" and "Why the Sister in Black Works Hardest."

The purpose of folktales

The oral tradition kept African folktales alive. Storytelling of that type shares several features with oral traditions around the world. It is typically performed in a particular place, at a particular time, and uses a special language; despite those rules, it employs flexible patterns and structures that aid composition, memory, and re-performance. The audience often participates in the performance as well.

For African Americans, the telling of folktales not only enabled the preservation and dissemination of African culture, but it gave some respite from the unbearable hardships of slavery, if only briefly. The storytelling tradition also encouraged a sense of community in being one of few activities that were not controlled by their white owners. Slaves sometimes used folktales to pass coded information about meeting places or escape plans to one another. This theme of outsmarting the slaveholder is reflected in many folktales, such as "The Riddle Tell of Freedom."

Characters and symbolism

Although folktales reflected the uncertainties of life for enslaved African Americans, they also provided a message of stability and assurance. The mother image found in some tales, for example, represents tenderness and goodness, while the child-hero is a symbol of purity and innocence. The smaller, less-powerful creatures, such as Brer Rabbit, always outsmart the larger, stronger characters, such as Brer Fox and Brer Bear. Students of the folktale generally hold that outcome as representative of the slaves' desire to outwit their stronger, more-powerful owners. In the brutal world of the slaves, these images meant a great deal.

After the abolition of slavery in 1865, the Brer Rabbit character became John, a trickster who worked on a Southern plantation and never failed to outwit the "old master." Little evidence exists to prove that the John tales were told during the era of slavery. Students of those stories hold that they are representative of the relationship between the free Black, who is free only in name, and the former slaveholder.

Unlike the John stories, the animal tales do not draw a clear distinction between just and unjust antagonists. They do, however, refute the romantic myth of the plantation that originated in the 1830s and is popularly represented in the 1939 movie Gone with the Wind. On the mythic Southern plantation, virtue, honour, pride, and benevolence determine status. Conversely, in the humanlike society represented in the animal tales, status is based on power, and winning is all that matters.

Folktales in print

Slave folktales continue to be an important part of not only African American literature but also American literature in general. They were first written down in the late 19th century but became widely available only when journalist Joel Chandler Harris published Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings: The Folk-lore of the Old Plantation (1880). Harris's popular book both preserved a significant collection of oral tales-though, like so many narratives of that era, its use of dialect is painful to the modern reader-and introduced many Euro-Americans to the stories of a hitherto unknown culture.

Harris's collection presents a fictional plantation slave, Uncle Remus, as the book's narrator, who recounts to a seven-year-old white boy the meaning behind the various antics of various humanlike animals. In his story "Tar-Baby" (1879), first published in The Atlanta Constitution, Harris launched Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox, the first of a larger group of animal characters that were to populate the pages of Uncle Remus and later books. Brer Fox secretly constructs a tar creature in order to catch Brer Rabbit. Then he hides to watch what happens. Tar-Baby, not surprisingly, does not respond to Brer Rabbit's civilities. The story proceeds as follows:

Brer Rabbit keep on axin' 'im, en de Tar-Baby, she keep on sayin' nuthin', twel present'y Brer Rabbit draw back wid his fis', he did, en blip he tuck 'er side er de head. Right dar's whar he broke his merlasses jug. His fis' stuck, en he can't pull loose. De tar hilt 'im. But Tar-Baby, she stay still, en Brer Fox, he lay low.

"Ef you don't lemme loose, I'll knock you agin," sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, en wid dat he fotch 'er a wipe wid de udder han', en dat stuck. Tar-Baby, she ain't sayin' nuthin', en Brer Fox, he lay low.

"Tu'n me loose, fo' I kick de natal stuffin' outen you," sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, but de Tar-Baby, she ain't sayin' nuthin'. She des hilt on, en den Brer Rabbit lose de use er his feet in de same way. Brer Fox, he lay low. Den Brer Rabbit squall out dat ef de Tar-Baby don't tu'n 'im loose he butt 'er cranksided. En den he butted, en his head got stuck. Den Brer Fox, he sa'ntered fort', lookin' des ez innercent ez wunner yo' mammy's mockin'-birds.

"Howdy, Brer Rabbit," sez Brer Fox, sezee. "You look sorter stuck up dis mawnin'," sezee, en den he rolled on de groun', en laft en laft twel he couldn't laff no mo'.

Many story collectors since Harris have published more-readable, often more-authentic, renditions of African American folktales. One notable collector of African American folktales was cultural anthropologist and folklorist Elsie Clews Parsons, who in the 1910s and '20s traveled to the Bahamas, to the Sea Islands, off the coast of the southeastern United States, and elsewhere to collect stories and study their origins. A collection titled Mules and Men (1935) by African American author Zora Neale Hurston may serve as a counterpoint to Harris's Uncle Remus collection in its attempt to share the stories from the perspective of an insider.

Courtesy of James Parsons

David Cunningham

Learn More in these related Britannica articles:

African American folktale

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African American folktale, storytelling tradition that evolved among enslaved African Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries. When slaves arrived in the New World from Africa in the 1700s and 1800s, they brought with them a vast oral tradition. The details and characters of the stories evolved

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“Cultural nationalism tied traditional gender norms to the defense of American values and ideals positioning the family as a bulwark against communism.”

Bulwark— A Defensive Wall

(Ryan)

Traditional gender norms were extremely important to many people, especially when the man could make all the money and live comfortably. With communism though gender norms weren’t as accepted, everyone was supposed to be equal and the woman was supposed to work as well and the man to support their children. This disgruntled many people that just wanted to stay the same.

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“Anticommunism provided a safe platform for conservative women to engage in political activism in defense of the family, and in turn they participate in broader efforts that attacked and weakened civil rights claims and the social justice effects of women on the left.”

(Ryan)

They had a significant role in this time period. They helped with the unemployment surge by being another provider for their families. They helped with cleaning as well as having a job to help their families survive. They wouldn’t survive if the man of the house was the only one working.

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“In the south, these decades were not only segregated by race, it was ruled by white supremacist legal and extralegal terrorism that was more hostile to the idea of unions or any other way in which people of different races would act in concert to protect their economic rights.”

(Goldfield)

The fact that white people didn’t want to be connected to colored people in that way shows how deep racism really went. The mixed couples were ostracized and were shown as a wrongdoing to society. When really, white and colored people were the same, they were the same from their personalities to their dreams. Maybe their accomplishments were different but they wanted similar things to each other. They wanted to protect their rights but white people didn’t want them intruding on the rights they thought were only for themselves.

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“The mechanism of agriculture supported by new deal programs insured a steady supply of low wage labor as sharecroppers and tenant farmers, black and white, were pushed off their land and into either unemployment or the industrial workforce.”

(Goldfield par. 5)

The Great Depression was a catastrophic event in history, inflation rose dramatically and people were dying. White farm owners were pushing people off their land because they didn’t have the money to pay them, and unemployment skyrocketed. People weren’t able to pay their bills or even pay for food for themselves and their families.

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“Societal standards for men, such as being tough and strong, have contributed to the expression of violence in men… [And] Previous literature focused on gender norms in rural areas [also] found that males in rural areas are more likely to believe women are submissive to males and that these men are surrounded by people within their community that reinforce these beliefs.”

(O’Connor 5-6)

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https://www.npr.org/2020/08/04/898574852/its-more-than-racism-isabel-wilkerson-explains-america-s-caste-system

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https://www.psychologistmanjuantil.com/2022/08/what-were-effects-of-great-depression.html