Hamilton, V. (1985). The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales. Alfred A. Knopf.
Coretta Scott King Award: for writing – 1986, honor for illustration – 1986.
This collection of folktales have been collected and written by Virginia Hamilton, and is divided into four major sections of chapters. They are 24 versions of some of the most commonly heard and told traditional folktales of African American origin. Hamilton gives a very informative introduction to the collection which helps to explain the origins of the stories. She begins with an insightful statement: “Folktales take us back to the very beginnings of people’s lives, to their hopes and their defeats.” She goes on to explain the reasoning and need that arose for African Americans who were slaves to have a rich oral storytelling tradition. As oppressed people, they still held fast to their gifts within to keep themselves going as people, and one of those many gifts was their imagination. Hamilton explains that many of the commonly heard characters, such as the rabbit, snake, and fox, “took on the characteristics of the people found in the new environment of the plantation.” The slave was often represented by the characteristics of the small rabbit, who was known to be a sharp thinker and able to use his skills to deal with stronger, meaner animals such as a fox or bear, which represented the oppressive factors and people in their life as a slave. Later on after the war, the protagonist began to take on the name John and with this more directly human representation, he takes on more of a trickster role who uses his cunning to outsmart the slave owner. Hamilton uses what she refers to as “a reasonably colloquial language or dialect, depending on the folklore.” Elements of coastal Southern Gullah, Caribbean, and numerous African language influences make each story distinctive yet influenced by the different cultures. An extensive bibliography of her sources for the tales which she compiled and adapted during her research is given at the end of the book. My particular edition that I reviewed included the enhancement of an audio CD of eleven of the stories read by the amazing voice of James Earl Jones, as well as the author herself.
The first section is entitled: “He Lion, Bruh Bear, and Bruh Rabbit and Other Animal Tales.” These various tales use animals in humanistic ways to represent slaves and the people in their lives, and how the animals outsmarted their way out of situations. The second section of the book is called: “The Beautiful Girl of the Moon Tower and Other Tales of the Road, Extravagant, and Fanciful.” Fanciful tales found in this section deal with the protagonist being rewarded in the end, such as to win over the beautiful woman. Some of the stories are tall tales of exaggeration as well. One story was hard for me to walk away liking, entitled “The Two Johns” because of the killing of a grandmother and such. I personally feel it is a mature tale not for the young to hear. There are also some drawings in the Hairy Man story that would have petrified me as a kid. The third section is entitled: “John and the Devil’s Daughter and Other Tales of the Supernatural.” It is in this section that there is a prevalence of John as the main character, and supernatural, the devil, and ghosts are in this section, and again, they are not for the easily scared. The last section is called: “Carrying the Running-Aways and other Slaves Tales of Freedom.” The story in this section where the book’s title derives from “The People Could Fly” is very inspirational and hopeful in its symbolism of freedom and speaks of perseverance and strength in the most challenging situation of being a slave. This book, written by Hamilton and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon, is a gift in many regards. They created a collection that not only serves as entertainment, but even more so as a way of educating on the storytelling and way of life as a slave, and to historically record a rich cultural heritage.
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