LITERARY CONSTRUCTS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDHOOD IN THE 1930S IN AMERICAN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE Tammy L. Mielke A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Coventry for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy AUGUST 2006 University of Worcester In association with Coventry University Abstract This literary study presents an analysis of literary constructs of African American childhood in the 1930s in American children’s literature. The purpose for such a study is to determine, identify, and analyse the constructions of African American childhood offered in such books. The critical approach employed involves theories based in post structuralism and post colonialism. The literary constructions of African American childhood are influenced by the society in which they were produced; hence this thesis includes a contextualisation of the historical time period in relationship to the works discussed. Furthermore, this thesis considers constructions offered through illustration in equal terms with textual constructions. Representations of African American childhood are also presented through the use of dialect. The position adopted considers dialect as African American patois since such written dialect is pre-proscriptive African American Vernacular English rules. Analysis has been carried out of the ways in which language written in African American patois constructed African American childhood rather than focusing on the linguistic aspects of the written dialect. Finally, four key texts, all written after 1965 and set in the 1930s have been evaluated: Sounder (1970) by William Armstrong, Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry (1976) by Mildred Taylor, Tar Beach (1991) by Faith Ringgold, and Leon’s Story (1997) by Susan Roth. These contemporary writers offered a different view of the 1930s since they are ‘writing back’ into the previously assumed stereotypes. In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates that in the 1930s, positive progression was achieved, bridging ideologies concerning the African American community fostered in the Harlem Renaissance and the search for African American identity for children and adults. While negative stereotypes established before the 1930s were included in some publications, defiance of mainstream views, resistance to overt racism, and a complication of representation of African American childhood is present in American children’s literature in the 1930s. Acknowledgements Table of Contents Preface 1 Chapter One - Introduction: Literary Constructs of African American Childhood in the 1930s in American Writing for Children 4 1.1 Rational 4 1.2 Aims 7 1.3 Methodology 8 1.4 Critical perspective 11 1.4.a Constructing childhood 16 1.4.b Constructing African American childhood 18 1.5 What is “children’s literature?” 20 1.6 Review of Historical Context of African Americans and the 1930s 26 1.6.a The Southern African Americans 26 1.6.b The Great Migration 32 1.6.c The African American Homeland – the City of Harlem 34 1.6.c.1 Harlem’s Great Renaissance 37 1.6.c.2 Harlem’s Population 40 1.6.d The Great Depression 43 1.7 Structure of Thesis 49 Chapter Two: Tom, Sambo, and Remus: Early Literary Constructs in books Constructing African American Childhood 50 2.1 Introduction 50 2.2 Justification of Texts 50 2.3 Production and publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin 54 2.4 Uncle Tom’s Cabin 56 2.5 The Minstrels and their Influences 64 2.6 Topsy and Eva, children of the South 69 2.7 Morphed ‘Uncle Tom’ and Additional Stereotypes 77 2.8 The Story of Little Black Sambo and Its Illustrations 92 2.9 Bannerman and the Sambo debates 93 2.10 Publishing History and Early Responses 96 2.11 Changing Illustrations /Changing Ideologies 101 Chapter Three Constructing African American Childhood in the 1930s 117 3.1 Introduction 117 3.2 The Picture Book 118 3.3 From Identity to Subjectivity in text 121 3.4 Identity through text 128 3.5 Image through Illustration 142 Chapter Four: Representations of Speech and the African American Patois 159 4.1 Introduction 159 4.2 Origins of African American Black English 161 4.3 African American dialect as Patois 166 4.4 Joel Chandler Harris and his Uncle Remus Tales 170 4.5 Paul Lawrence Dubar – Dialect and non-dialect writing 177 4.6 Dialect in Children’s Literature 181 Chapter Five: Defining Larger Spheres of Influence via Literary Constructs of African American Childhood in the 1930 200 5.1 Introduction 200 5.2 Politics and the Construction of African American Childhood 201 5.2 Location and the Construction of African American Childhood 206 5.4 Education and the Construction of African American Childhood 211 5.5 Non-Fiction and the Construction of African American Childhood 220 Chapter Six: The Construction of African American Childhood the 1930s in Literature After the Civil Rights Movement 225 6.1 Introduction 225 6.2 Historic/al Fiction 226 6.3 The Universal Individual’s Coming of Age in Sounder 227 6.4 Family and Community in Mildred Taylor’s Logan books 239 6.5 Changing Focalisers in Taylor’s Mississippi Bridge 251 6.6 Reconstructing the Past in Illustration through Ringgold’s Tar Beach (1991) 256 6.6 Leon’s Story 262 Chapter 7: Conclusion 268 Appendices 280 Appendix 2.1 281 Appendix 2.2 282 Appendix 5.1 283 Appendix 6.1 284 Bibliography 285 Bibliography 1 Primary Sources of the 1930s Listed by Publication Date 286 Primary Sources of the 1930s Listed by Author 2 Primary Sources of the 1930s Listed by Illustrator 2 Primary Sources of the 1930s Listed by Publisher 2 Bibliography 2 Complete Listing 3 CD PowerPoint Presentation: Images of Little Black Sambo Preface When I moved to England in September of 2002 to begin this thesis, I had no realistic idea of the changes I would undertake in order to complete this study. In my mind at that time, I was moving to a country that spoke the same language and had the same sort of government as what I knew. To my way of thinking, completing a research thesis about African American childhood in England would be difficult work but not anything different than what I had already experienced in my academic background. I could not have been more wrong. Little did I realise that I was moving into a foreign culture of which I was not a part. My American background made me very un-British in ways I had not anticipated. There were the ‘little battles’ such as understanding idioms, adjusting to different food - some unknown and some that just tasted different, as well as learning a new method of spelling. There were larger, personal battles. American politics made me unacceptable in certain groups. This was shockingly revealed to me when I was told by a ‘friend’ that America deserved 9-11. For the first time in my life, I was the “other”. I looked American. I sounded American. I acted American. I was labelled before I had the opportunity to demonstrate who I was and how I felt about issues at hand. My nationality - and politics and values - were questioned as soon as someone heard my American accent. Every American policy that was frowned upon in the UK became my fault - from the war in Iraq to the handling of Hurricane Katrina. During the beginning of my transition from life in America to life as a foreigner in Britain, I realised that my personal experience - my life as “the 1 other” - was important to how I needed to approach my research. I could understand to some extent the feelings emanating from such dislocation and marginalisation. This uncomfortable experience, while subtle in comparison to the African American experience, was invaluable for a white middle class female who was undertaking the study African American childhood in the 1930s. I do clearly recognise that there is no direct correlation with the African American experience. I merely state that I felt some echoes of cultural marginalisation and dislocation. However, my personal experience raised a sensitivity through which I could approach literature concerning a culture of which I was not a part. In undertaking this study concerning African American childhood, I have had to question my own past, my own culture and society, including my ‘programming’ and identity. Although there is nothing intrinsic to race, and culture is learned, my position as a critic of this literature involved certain considerations in order to maintain an objective perspective on the literature under analysis, to find ways to speak without speaking for the African American community. As I study the changing constructs of African American childhood, I am ready to question my own assumptions about childhood and race and history and the identity created through this process. In order to question my assumptions, I first needed to learn about culture, specifically African American culture. Extensive reading, which in most cases would be considered outside the narrow scope of this thesis, gave me a glimpse into African American culture, showing me a rich world of tradition and family. Alex Haley’s Roots (1976) made me see the family and 2 personal history of African American life in the United Stated. Richard Write opened my eyes as he learned about the world of the South and the politics of the North in Black Boy (1945). Toni Morrison made me sing in Jazz (1992). The defeats and triumphs in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple (1982) emotionally tied me to a deeper understanding of the black female. The list could go on including W.E.B. Dubois, The Soul of Black Folks (1903), Ralph Emerson’s, The Invisible Man (1947), and Morrison’s The Bluest Eye 1970). Through my readings, I found a new world, rich in culture and tradition.