Storytelling

Storytelling is one of the main vehicles used in many cultures to pass along important messages to future generations. This definitely holds truth in African and African-American cultures today. The short essay, Storytelling, written by Wanda J. Franklin and Joanne Kilgour Dowdy explores the variety of these stories in personal accounts. In this essay the the audience experiences different approaches to how storytelling has varied throughout the decades. From a personal perspective, I connected with the authors' experiences well enough to understand the history and meanings behind the stories. I comprehended the message being conveyed; it does not matter how you tell the story, as long as the point gets across. In addition to all of the stories being told in a different manner, they also are told to convey different moods. These moods include happiness, joy, hope, humorous, and many more. I found it intriguing that there are two primary divisions of African-American storytelling when it comes to tales of struggle. The first division is based on the history of African-American's in the United States and the second is religion. It did not shock me, but I thought it interesting that the division was even distinguished. Both divisions hold great value and importance in the African-American culture. Do you remember hearing stories from your elders that are similar to the ones told in this essay? The answer to this question may vary, but most likely you have heard stories from elders in your family that holds some sort of significance.