Ah'll+Beatcher+Makin'+Money







In class we discussed the subversive role of storytelling and folklore and were asked how we thought the stories (or the act of storytelling itself) serves a socio-political function. One of the ways that I believe these stories are subversive is that they challenged the prevailing stereotypes of black people and culture in the post-Civil War South. As we’ve already discussed in class, one of the primary ways stories and folklore accomplish this is by challenging the convention that black people are physically strong and mentally weak. Not only do the characters in the stories display intelligence and trickery (as in the case of the John outfoxing ole Massa in “Ah’ll Beatcher Makin’ Money”) but the story tellers themselves display their intellectual prowess as the stories they share are carefully constructed with often witty and clever endings, surprising twists on traditional themes, etc.

I chose a few pieces of artwork from the Harlem Renaissance that I believe serve the same subversive function as the story telling in __Mules and Men__. Just as the story “Ah’ll Beatcher Makin’ Money” challenges the stereotype of the “intellectually inferior black person/culture” these paintings, depicting black people engaged in reading and studying challenge the convention that they don’t enjoy intellectual pursuits.

The first three paintings are by Jacob Lawrence and the last is by Romare Bearden.

[|Ah'll Beatcher Makin' Money]