1.The notes on Oral Tradition in Handouts list four sources from which the African American oral tradition could have come. What are they? And why would it matter where the tradition originated? Why, for example, is there so much controversy over the origin of the Negro spiritual and not so much over the origin of proverbs, or the folk cries, hollers, and shout?
2.About which of the features of the tradition is there the most dispute? Why do you think? About which was there the greatest clash of cultures between the Africans and the Whites?
3.According to Henry Louis Gates, the plan of slave owners was to create a "tabula rasa" (a blank slate) in the minds of slaves to make them believe that their history began with slavery. But the African American oral tradition has been "constantly evolving and functioning as a mode of black resistance to total cultural assimilation or even annihilation" (Liggins). Analyze how the oral tradition could possibly serve as a means of "resistance to cultural assimilation or even annihilation." Be careful not to merely repeat that the oral tradition served as mean of resistance to cultural assimilation. Rather, explain how it could.