Storytelling Traditions of Philadelphia's Liberian Elders

From West Africa to West Philadelphia Storytelling Traditions of Philadelphia’s Liberian Elders A Collaborative Project of The Center for Folklore and Ethnography University of Pennsylvania and The Agape African Senior Citizens Center 229 North 63rd Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Table of Contents Preface ....................................................................................................2 Liberia and the Philadelphia Community ........................................................5 Liberian Languages and Community Storytelling .............................................8 The Stories ...............................................................................................10 How Monkey Tricked Alligator by Edith Hill ....................................................10 Three Truths that Deer Told Leopard by John K. Jallah ..................................... 11 How the Animals Became Different Colors by Benjamin Kpangbah .......................12 Why Elephant is Afraid of Goat by Deddeh Passawee ........................................14 Greedy Spider by Ansumana Passawee .........................................................15 Which Brother Should Marry the King’s Daughter? by Ansumana Passawee ............16 Hawk and Hen by Edith Hill ........................................................................18 Which Wife Should Die? by Peter Sirleaf ........................................................19 Why Rabbit Sleeps When Leopard Chases Him by Deddeh Passawee .....................20 Leopard and Sparrow by Garrison Togba .......................................................21 The Hard-Headed Boy and the Dragon by Benjamin Kpangbah.............................22 Leopard and Goat by Martha Carr ................................................................23 How a Disabled Peasant Girl Became the Chief’s Beloved Wife by Benjamin Kpangbah .............................................................................24 Why Dog and Rabbit Live in Town by Edith Hill ................................................25 Why Hand and Foot Must Work for Belly by Peter Sirleaf....................................26 The War Between Men and Women by Benjamin Kpangbah ................................28 Elders and Storytellers of the Agape Center ...................................................30 The Academic/Community Partnership as a Thinking System ............................34 About the Partners .....................................................................................37 1 Preface his collection of stories is a brochure and website for the And all of the elders, along with cultural difference, using a second collection incorporates additional social issues facing communities Tthe result of an ongoing Agape Center. But Rev. Jallah and Meltem and her students, replied language. stories recorded at subsequent throughout the Black Atlantic and collaboration between Penn’s Mr. Prall cautioned Meltem that with gusto: “Time!” events held in the fall of 2006 and beyond. The following year we offered this Center for Folklore and performing any service for the the winter of 2007. Only abstracts To the delight of everyone there, service learning class again, this Most of all, we hope that the elders Ethnography and the Agape elders of this refugee community and storylines are included here, one after another of the elders time to explore more fully the will enjoy using this collection, African Senior Citizens Center would require that students because the stories themselves need stood and offered a tale. Some told civics of service learning as cultural representing a tiny fraction of what of West Philadelphia. In 2004, themselves first study the history the Liberian elders to bring them traditional West African animal brokerage. Can the University they have taught us, to bridge across Meltem Turkoz, a newly-graduated that brought so many refugees here alive. Those wishing to know what stories, while others challenged us support the remapping of refugee generations in schools, churches, Ph.D. alumna of the Graduate from Liberia, and learn culturally the three truths were that Deer told with “dilemmas,” those African worlds in West Philadelphia libraries, and other community Program in Folklore and Folklife, appropriate ways of dressing, to Leopard, will have to ask Rev. tales with endings that can only be communities by collaborating on centers in West Philadelphia sought to create a service learning behaving, and communicating. On Jallah themselves. resolved through the deliberations the cultural production of public through the great tradition of West course that would engage Penn’s this foundation, Meltem launched of a jury appointed by the tale space? In addition to the Folklore Teachers, librarians, and others African storytelling. undergraduates in folklore fieldwork Folklore/Urban Studies 321, teller. As Rev. Jallah interpreted Archive, two more spaces appeared may use the storylines in literature, as a means of bridging across Exploring Memory and Tradition and contextualized the tales, we on campus in 2006: one in the Arts social studies, and TESOL classes — Mary Hufford, Director cultures, while reflecting on the in Philadelphia Communities. This understood that the stories are Café at the Kelly Writer’s House, to challenge students to identify Center for Folklore and civics of cultural brokerage. It was course is now regularly offered as outcroppings of deep veins of where the elders performed as verbal alternative endings and morals Ethnography, University not long before Meltem’s fieldwork a Netter Center for Community knowledge, cultural memory, and artists, the other in the storage for the stories, and to reflect on in West Philadelphia led her to Partnerships Academically-Based of Pennsylvania identity. In a traditional Liberian facility at the University Museum, the underlying messages about the office of the Rev. John K. Community Service Course. where the elders perused and the problems of jealousy, hard- Jallah, a Baptist minister from Lofa setting, such stories would be a The course that Meltem taught commented on artifacts collected headedness, and greed, or the County in Liberia who founded primary means of building character in the spring semester of 2005 from Sierra Leone in the late 19th characteristics of friendship, honor, the Agape Center in 2000. Rev. as well as verbal dexterity and culminated with a visit from the and early 20th centuries. and respect. Students can also be Jallah introduced Meltem to the mental acuity in children. Agape seniors to the University of invited to imagine the particulars remarkable group of elders who Here in the United States, the elders Liberian English can be difficult Pennyslvania’s Folklore Archive. of dialogue, gesture, and setting, gather at the Agape Center each are putting the stories to work in for Americans to understand until The elders brought with them to prepare them to appreciate Monday and Wednesday for prayer, a new way. The community that they become familiar with it. As a lavish sampler of traditional the elders’ mastery of the craft of bible study, lessons in reading, assembles in the space of the Agape Rev. Jallah puts it, “You have to Liberian foods: goat meat and fish storytelling. What would Alligator writing, and speaking American Center would be less likely to tune your ears.” The service learners in palaver sauce, oxtail soup, sweet and Monkey say to each other? English, and preparation for the gather in Liberia’s interior counties. decided that, rather than render the potato greens, fufu, rice bread, What sound would a turtle make as citizenship test that will allow each At home, the elders would be stories completely in writing, we ginger beer and much more. Many he climbs a steep mountain? What elder to participate in public life in telling their stories in their tribal would provide the audience with guests at the event, Penn faculty is the facial expression of a character the United States. languages: Loma, Bassa, Kru, Krio, written cues to assist this tuning of and students, were meeting the who is jealous, embarrassed, or Krahn, and Mende, to name a few. the ears. Accordingly, the service Rev. Jallah and John Prall, the elders for the first time. When the frightened? Beyond introducing Edith Hill posing riddles to children during Here they must tell their tales in learners produced a set of abstracts Agape Center’s health advocate, meal was finished, Meltem asked students to the artistry of the elders, an inaugural event for the West Philadelphia Liberian English, the only language and storylines, and illustrated them Branch of the Welcoming Center for New were able to identify several areas Edith Hill if she would like to tell a the stories open windows onto a understood by all the elders. Thus, with original maps, watercolors, and Pennsylvanians, December 8, 2007. There to tell in which Penn students could serve story. In response, Edith stood and wide array of West African customs, stories with her were Ansumana Passawee and exchanging stories over lunch photographs. The elders performed the elders, ranging from math and announced: “Once upon a Time!” settings, and technologies, and can Benjamin Kpangbah. Photo by Mary Hufford. the stories to thunderous applause literacy tutoring to developing at the Agape Center, the elders be used to launch discussions of build community across tribal and from a packed house. The present 2 3 Liberia and the Philadelphia Community iberia, Africa’s oldest

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