Homecomings and Return Migration in African -American Folklore and Literature Since 1970
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 2000 Coming Home: Homecomings and Return Migration in African -American Folklore and Literature Since 1970. Stephanie Gail Hall Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Hall, Stephanie Gail, "Coming Home: Homecomings and Return Migration in African -American Folklore and Literature Since 1970." (2000). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 7360. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/7360 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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COMING HOME: HOMECOMINGS AND RETURN MIGRATION IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN FOLKLORE AND LITERATURE SINCE 1970 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by Stephanie Gail Hall B.A., Howard University, 1988 M.A., Texas Woman’s University, 1991 December 2000 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9998679 Copyright 2000 by Hall, Stephanie Gail All rights reserved. ___ ® UMI UMI Microform 9998679 Copyright 2001 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. Ail rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ©Copyright 2000 Stephanie Gail Hall All rights reserved ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of my grandmother, Bessie Smith, and my great-grandparents, Henry Smith, Sr. and Katie B. Smith, of Dorseyville, Louisiana. They were members of the S t John Baptist Church of Dorseyville, Louisiana, where I attended my very first Homecoming celebration as a young girL Their faith, prayers, and commitment to our family helped to sustain me. Their stories made me realize that I would one day live to tell theirs. Their dreams live on in me. And to a man who left this world too soon: Abe Thomas Hall, Jr. (1940- 1968). I only hope that I have become the woman he would have wanted for me to be. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to first acknowledge the teachers and professors who always encouraged my love for learning and literature. I would especially like to recognize Dr. Joyce Thompson (1943-1991) and Dr. Phyllis Bridges of Texas Woman’s University, and Dr. John Lowe of Louisiana State University for their belief in my ability to achieve this goal and their wholehearted support of my interest in African- American literature and folklore. I also want to acknowledge my relatives and extended family who have stood by me unconditionally as I pursued this dream, including Connie and Hal Bell, Samantha Jossell, the Williams family, the Westridge Park First Baptist Church family and Rev. E. L. Hewitt, Jr. A special thanks to my friends, classmates, and mentors who kept my spirits up and never let me quit. But mostly I would like to thank two people: my mother, Lucy M. Hall, who always believed in me, supported me and prayed that I would fulfill my goal; and Anthony Manley-Rook, who was strong enough to stand behind my dream while I pursued it, and kind enough to stand beside me when I needed him. I thank them both for their love. iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................ iv ABSTRACT.................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION................................................................ 1 1.1 Endnotes...................................................................................... 5 CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE................................................ 7 2.1 Sociological, Anthropological, and Historical Perspectives.... 7 2.2 Critical Perspectives: African-American Literature and Southern Literature.................................................................... 10 2.3 Endnotes.................................................................................. 13 CHAPTER 3. THE RITUALS OF HOMECOMING.................................. 14 3.1 Going Back Home: The “Moment of Return”.......................... 17 3.2 No Place Like Home: Landscape in the Homecoming Narrative.............................................................. 34 3.3 Sitting at the “Welcome Table”: Food, Feast, and Home.......................................................................... 43 3.4 ‘I Once Was Lost But Now I’m Found’: Ceremony and Return ................................................................ 57 3.5 Endnotes.................................................................................... 69 CHAPTER 4. THE DECISION TO RETURN HOME................................ 73 4.1 ‘I Will Arise and Go to My Father’: Homecoming as Claiming A ct.................................................... 75 4.2 ‘We’ve Come This Far by Faith’: Homecoming as Salvation.......................................................... 93 4.3 Endnotes...................................................................................... 114 CHAPTER 5. NEGOTIATING HOME AND TRANSGRESSIVE MOMENTS, OR “YOU DON’T LIVE HERE NO MORE” .................................................................................. 117 5.1 Endnotes.................................................................................... 153 CHAPTER 6. HEIR APPARENT: LOCATING “HOME” IN THE NEW SOUTH........................................................................ 156 6.1 Endnotes ...................................................................................... 175 CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSION: HOME AND THE TIE(S) THAT BIND(S)...................................................................... 178 7.1 Endnotes ...................................................................................... 190 BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................................... 192 V Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX: LETTER OF PERMISSION........................................................202 VITA...................................................................................................................203 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT This dissertation explores homecoming narratives and the representation of return migration in African-American folklore and in African-American literature written since 1970. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, sociological, historical, religious and literary criticism are incorporated to examine African-American church and communal homecomings, personal memoir, and novels as extensions of the Great Migration narrative, leading to a reconfiguration of the South as “home.” This study includes an analysis of the structural features of the homecoming narrative, including the “moment of return,” the