The Preservation of Vernacular Tradition in African American Literature
Vernacular tradition plays an important role in African American history and literature. During the slave era, black people were systematically denied the right to learn how to read and write, which led to the reliance on word of mouth transmission for the spread of knowledge and culture. The vernacular tradition was a form of resistance and preservation of one’s identity while facing oppression. Some examples can be seen with songs such as “Pick a Bale of Cotton” and “Go Down, Moses.” In the case of “Pick a Bale of Cotton,” it shows slaves trying to uplift their spirits to keep going even while doing repetitive backbreaking work. “Pick a Bale of Cotton” emulates the repetitive setting by repeating phrases such as “Oh, Lordy, pick a bale of cotton” (line 5). By singing these songs while working, the slaves resist giving up hope in the system of oppression.
Many of these songs are uniquely experienced through listening. Reading the lyrics doesn’t showcase the mood that the song is trying to evoke such as in “Go Down, Moses” where the lyrics imply a more hopeful mood, but it instead adopts a somber tone. This example shows the importance of the vernacular tradition to truly understand what these songs mean and reveal details about the time period they are in. At the same time, they show the importance of the vernacular as a way of resistance by keeping up their spirits and teaching parts of the Bible about Moses and him leading his people to freedom and safety.
Once slavery ended, more and more black people learned to read and write, which transformed the primary way of spreading knowledge and culture. Elements of the vernacular tradition are still preserved, however. One way the vernacular tradition has been conserved is through the usage of dialect when writing. Examples such as “When Malindy Sings” and “An Ante-Bellum Sermon,” both by Paul Laurence Dunbar, showcase the usage of dialect as a distinct part of African American Literature. In “When Malindy Sings,” he writes phrases such as “Easy ‘nough fu’ folks to hollah” (line 17) to show how it would have sounded if it was spoken aloud. Black writers are translating what in the past would have been told orally and putting it onto paper through the usage of dialect.
Charles Chesnutt uses dialect in “The Wife of His Youth” to achieve a different goal: to depict the new generation of black people after the era of slavery as forgetful of their vernacular tradition and what it symbolizes. Mr. Ryder and the society of Blue Veins are trying to forget the past of slavery, and are instead trying to become more like a white person. Liza Jane, however, shows up and her dialogue is written with a dialect while all of the others are using “proper” spelling. Liza Jane represents the Vernacular Tradition that some people were forgetting about, which includes things such as the oppression they suffered and how they endured. In the end, Liza Jane gets introduced to everyone at a ball hosted by Mr. Ryder in a positive manner, which reinforces the importance of the Vernacular Tradition in African American Literature.
Works Cited
Chesnutt, Charles. “The Wife of His Youth.” The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories, University of Michigan Press, 1968, pp. 1-24.
Dunbar, Paul. “An Ante-Bellum Sermon.” 1896. Poets.org, https://poets.org/poem/ante-bellum-sermon, Accessed 26, January 2026.
Dunbar, Paul. “When Malindy Sings.” 1896. Poets.org, https://poets.org/poem/when-malindy-sings, Accessed 26 January 2026.
“Go Down, Moses.” Norton Anthology of African American Literature, 2nd ed., 2003, pp. 12.
“Pick a Bale of Cotton.” Norton Anthology of African American Literature, 2nd ed., 2003, pp. 41.
Hi Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteI agree that reading vernacular does not have the same affect as hearing it out loud. In some cases it was even difficult to understand at all if not read out loud. I also agree that the use of vernacular in stories like "The Wife of His Youth" plays an important role in story telling. Liza Jane's speech patterns say a lot about her character and how the other character likely perceive her without the author having to explicitly explain much.
-Sasha
Hi Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated your point on how Go Down, Moses uses a somber tone to layer meaning onto hopeful lyrics. It highlights the preservation of history in vernacular. I was intrigued to learn how vernacular evolved from a necessity of the oppressed into a deliberate tool for identity and memory.
Hey Johnathan,
ReplyDeleteI like the way you contrasted typical vernacular tradition with the story of "The Wife of His Youth." I liked the way you explained that this type of literature would almost be impossible to pass down without word of mouth. After it had been passed down for a while, you explain that people wrote it down to read like you were hearing it, which is cool. Lastly, you contrast it with another story where the person is trying to get rid of the typical vernacular tradition.
Hi Jonathan, I also think that vernacular traditions are a major reason for the language of characters like Liza Jane to be written the way it is. I like how you use two very different examples to show the common thread of vernacular traditions being a method of resisting oppression. This style of writing and recitation allows African Americans to celebrate their unique identities, sometimes in a way that's intentionally less clear to White audiences.
ReplyDeleteHi Jonathan, I really like the example of "The Wife oh His Youth" as I feel like that is one of the best examples of the vernacular being used to make a distinction between the black people trying to assimilate and the ones who aren't. I also found it interesting that you highlighted that the vernacular is important in figuring out the mood. I think its interesting that the black vernacular didn't die with the addition of reading and writing, but instead they added both literature and vernacular into their culture.
ReplyDelete-Lucas
Hey Jonathan, it's very interesting to see the vernacular language as a way to fight for their own identity instead of being persuaded into one. I like the point you bring up that listening is more impactful than just reading it since trying to read the vernacular language in your head can get really confusing but just saying the phonetic speech out loud makes it clear what the poet is trying to say. I also agree with the methodology of using the vernacular language as a way to compare the generations of African Americans who were born before and after their freedom from slavery.
ReplyDeleteHI Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteI found your analysis of the vernacular tradition in Chesnutt's story fascinating; I had never thought of the difference in language between the Blue Vein Society and Liza Jane as another manifestation of their ideological differences. I think it's really interesting to think about the written dialect as attempting to preserve the vernacular tradition of old. Great job!
Emma
Hello Jonathan! I really enjoyed this blog because it furthered my understanding of vernacular tradition. I especially enjoyed how you captured the idea of vernacular tradition constantly evolving, but having one common purpose: to pass down information that is accessible to the majority of African Americans. This blog perfectly showed that vernacular tradition is fluid and serves the people of the time period, and how we can learn a lot about the time period by studying the works that come out of it.
ReplyDeleteHey Jonathon,
ReplyDeleteI love how you discussed music and the eventual evolution from lyrical writing to narrative and poetic writing. This historical development really helps to explain the importance and origin of black vernacular. I do think that your positive characterization of vernacular in "The Wife of His Youth" is correct, but I believe you might have oversimplified its importance.
Jonathan* (sorry)
DeleteHi Jonathan, I liked how you connected spoken vernacular tradition with its written counterpart, as the transfer of all these stories (that had previously only been shared by mouth) to paper was an important part of the history of African American literature. To me, I find that the stories effectively recreate the spoken words in written format, but I can understand why it can be hard for some people to "hear" the words when written in the way that they are. In addition, liked your point on Liza Jane, as she was really representing the traditional African American, and in the end she was portrayed as being in the right. Overall, nice post!
ReplyDeleteHi Jonathan!
ReplyDeleteI like how you explain vernacular tradition as both resistance and a way to preserve identity during slavery. Your examples of “Pick a Bale of Cotton” and “Go Down, Moses” clearly show how songs carried meaning beyond just the written lyrics. I also liked how you connected those oral traditions to the use of dialect in later works like The Wife of His Youth. Nice post!
Hey Jonathan! I really liked how many places you were able to find examples of the vernacular tradition! I also totally agree with having to listen to the songs in order to truly understand the feeling and meaning of the song--- I was definitely very taken aback on the day we listened to the songs, as it seemed like the feelings in "Go Down Moses" and "Pick a Bale of Cotton" were reversed. I think the way you were able to emphasize the way that black vernacular and oral traditions changed throughout time, and how that relates to slavery and the events happening in history at the time. I especially liked the way you were able to tie together all of the pieces of black literature and writing at the end by mentioning Liza Jane and her representation of the forgotten black vernacular I think the way you were able to emphasize the way that black vernacular and oral traditions changed throughout time, and how that relates to slavery and the events happening in history at the time. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Jonathan! I really like that you used songs we listened to in class as an example of the vernacular tradition. I never thought about how those songs might shed light on the oral and speaking style of people at the time, which is super insightful. I also like that you used "The Wife of His Youth" as an example -- we can definitely see differences in the way Liza Jane and Mr. Ryder speak, which speaks to their separate experiences post-slavery and during the Reconstruction. Overall, great post!
ReplyDelete