The First People of America belonged to many different tribes with different legends, rituals, languages & storytelling conventions. They all revered traditional rhythms, nature-mimicking sounds, invoking words, animal characters & listener interaction to charm stories into communal reality.
Indigenous Americans >
Native Writers/Texts
What came first
the teller or the tale?
Once, there was a time when spoken words were the primary currency. Their abundance was a measure of wealth for the people. Poetry could provide protection. Stories bought unlimited entertainment; words like golden threads, spun tight & gossamer-bright, created a timeless age of magic— not fictional, make-believe magic— spoken word-ers could create mystical events full of real enchantment. Words put together in just the right way made animals talk, imbued non-human things with wisdom, and a ritual chant could melt any moment into a time-transcending circle. This reality-bending, dream-sending time can be found in American history only a few centuries ago!
At the base of the trunk of the SpokenOak Genre Tree, this genuinely mystical era is called Telling Roots. Telling Roots is the first US/Canadian spoken word era and stretches back to pre-history (before written language). This is of course the dwelling place/time/space of Native Americans, the First People of America, who relied on Oral Tradition for the maintenance of the health of their tribes. Today also the indigenous tribes use Oral Tradition in community-based activities for teaching about connections to the land, & cultural traditions. Oral Tradition is the continuing (re)creation of Spoken Word (storytelling, poetry, chant/song) as the historical record of a group's cultural identity.
Oral Tradition includes many different styles depending on the individual teller. These spoken arts are practiced in many world languages today & embody many different performance conventions depending on the culture. For instance, stories might be performed with or without rigid structure. Audience participation is common in most oral traditions, parts memorized or improvised. Typically, stories are like parables for teaching morals to youth or learning about important historical events, places & people. It is difficult to separate the singing from the telling at some multi-arts-like ceremonies— praise-giving, thrumming music, drumming, songs/poetry, dance.
Oral Tradition is also found in shamanistic healing in tribal cultures around the world. A shaman is like a tribal doctor, usually an elder with knowledge of local plants for remedies & the skill to manipulate vocal frequencies & trance-inducing rhythm. Shamans are keepers of the words representing the creative force & they wield this "magic" to drive out disease or restore a healthful balance.
No matter what style or purpose, Oral Tradition is packed with metaphor, symbolism & tonal-imagistic language. All in all, the ritual use of Spoken Word provides health, history & social cohesion for a community.
Highlighting Oral Tradition as the ancient taproot of culture helps to illuminate the search for a modern definition of Spoken Word. When traced back in time, all the spoken word genres we enjoy today— theatre, stand-up, speechin' & preachin', slam, rhyme, rap, & others— have sprouted from an ancient seed. We like to think of it as the first link between the dryads of Imagination & Language. (Maybe it was "love at first sound")? But no one knows why, how or when it happened— Was it a lyric, a joke, a pun?— What was the first creative show of words? Nevertheless, over time, the vast, complex canopy of our SpokenOak Genre Tree shot up loud & clear… from that single, prehistoric word-spitting pit!
The first spoken word-ers in America didn't think of themselves as spoken word artists. There was no concept of "artist". The Native Americans didn't think crafting beautiful artifacts, weaving, carving or storytelling was anything separate from the everyday cultural/functional activities of their lives. Sure, some people were more skilled at making certain things but no one keep portfolios, got awards or put a price on a "thing".
Even the first Spanish explorers, marauders & English colonists (who brought their own talents, stories & songs) didn't have a concept of "spoken arts". Europeans were just beginning to define art in the late 1600's. There were great artists in Europe, beautiful objects & incredible architecture, but these things were thought of as being created by craftspeople, artisans they were called; the job of being a performer, back then, was viewed more like a frivolous service than inspired entertainment.
How did the category called "art" come about?
Beginning with the Renaissance & finally by the end of the eighteenth century the social fabric in Europe changed drastically. Communities weren't so simple & cohesive anymore. There were religious, political, scientific, & industrial revolutions taking shape. The European way of thinking became divergent, divisive, specialized, to handle all the work. And, to get really good at something, you had to break it down, segment it, get critical— they divided human activity into religion, politics, law, commercial trade, science, military, technology…. and art. Goodbye, dear old, organic, holistic world.
Our description of the shift to this modern way— fragmenting, categorizing & commoditizing— is an over-simplification for the sake of getting to the point. The point is this was a completely different reality than the reality of The First People of America. The Native Americans could not have understood a fragmented world. Worse, there was no shared framework (language or philosophy) to effectively refute or debate with the fragmented minds of European visitors. The harmonious, timeless ways of indigenous people left them tragically exposed to exploitation & betrayal.
Because the indigenes had no written language, the Europeans assumed the locals were inferior. The ambitious newcomers couldn't be bothered with trying to understand the complexities of so many languages or the aesthetic genius of Native tellers. Little did they know, Native Storytelling was just as rich & unique as their own forms of Traditional Storytelling (a story style representational of a country, culture or region).
Some distinguishing characteristics of Native American storytelling can be found in the tonal quality of the languages, the presenting style (being structured yet flexible), and the use of specific historical/landscape-based content.
Tonal means musical-sounding; in English literature this is called onomatopoeia, when a word sounds like what it means (like "wham" or "fizzle"). The oldest languages around the world are tonal, being rooted in nature-dependent cultures.
The poetic structure of Native story is varied according to tribe &/or occasion, but there is always an invitation for the listeners to participate & room for coincidental sounds to become part of the telling (like a bird chirping all of a sudden). Intuition & personal commentary are important features as the teller is playing all the parts— narrating, improvising, joking with the audience & offering up a personal interpretation. Story becomes timeless, the plot circles back around— past, present & future meld— whether improvising or reciting epic history, teller & tribe are aware they are making history!
Native story emphasizes landscapes & places. Such a consistent element shows how central nature/land is to tribal identity. The continuing mention of important places in story protects those places, providing a kind of "snapshot" so tribal members can see sacred lands even when they have been stolen or the people have had to relocate.
The first visitors to America & Canada (as recorded) were European explorers, marauders & colonial servants staking claim for their motherlands. Most were Spanish, Dutch, French, & English. Initially, they were tent-dwellers; the first villages were fortified encampments. The newcomers had their traditional stories, jokes, poetry, & songs. These early American spoken word-ers we call camp tellers. Camp tellers were soldiers, fur traders, banished criminals or rugged out-posters who adapted the songs & stories of their homelands to the New Land.
We imagine camp tellers must have been boisterous & brag-ish in their telling style. They were competitive individualists compelled to "one-up" the last guy's joke. They were creative & flexible in dealing with the unexpected dangers of the wilderness, so it probably came natural to "adapt" the lyrics of ballads & traditional epic-tales to fit their new experiences. Crazy weather & treacherous terrain wasn't conducive to packing too many books, so the camp teller was all there was for keeping everyone's spirits high. We might say every camp party was BYOS— Bring Your Own Story!
The colonization of America in the early 1700's is discussed in the SpokenOak time period Early Traditions, and it is in that period we see the blossoming of tales about the woodsman, trapper, trailblazer, lumberjack & tamer-of-the-wild. Those stories became known as classic American folktales and they were cooked up around the fire-pit. Fantastic legends echoed through the ages off the BS-ing backlit silhouette of the Camp Teller.
A new spoken word-er appeared shortly after the campers— the evangelist. There are complicated histories around the "proper" definitions of the words evangelist, evangelic & evangelism, so we will offer a definition in relation to the Spoken Arts: An evangelist is a church starter or religious leader who employs a powerful preaching style for the mission of drawing in converts to a Protestant theology.
There were eloquent pulpit preachers in Europe when the Catholic split-off called Protestantism occurred. However, the preachers who were religious dissidents of the Protestant Church (Puritans, Calvinists, Methodists, Anglicans, Quakers, missionaries in the New World) developed a severe fire-n-brimstone style.
Conditions in the new, untamed land were a real test of faith for the devout. Finding themselves in such a strange, hostile environment, often without enough food or supplies, was positively frightening. Approaching the natives was puzzling at best & fatal at worst. It was hard for people to keep sight of the old definitions of sin when their basic needs had so drastically changed. Being a leader (pastor or minister) of a fragile group, pushing ahead with some tenuous plan for spreading God's Word, demanded some tough-tablet, fire-on-the-mountain preaching.
It is believed that the first "book" to be printed in the colonies (1640) may have been The Bay Psalm Book which was the King James Version of Psalm, hymns meant to be sung in church. Children were educated in the home using books like these (along with the Bible) and it was common for early preachers to print sermons & ritual liturgy in pamphlets for distribution to each household. Reading aloud was a large part of home schooling and we can imagine this practice produced a largely literate community and some fairly animated, articulate spoken word-ers.
Here are some fun facts about some infamous early evangelists:
A popular, American read-aloud poem of the 17th century was called Day of Doom. With its nervous rhythm structure it does seem apropos that it was written by a minister named Wigglesworth. (His unusual literary cadence was later copied by Kipling).
Then there was a traveling clergyman named Nathaniel Ward who may have written the first American-bent satire called The Simple Cobbler of Agawam, a story poking fun at the Englishman's view of American grubby ways. It positively rips at gentleman pomp & establishes a foundation for the American "I-don't-mind-digging-in" nationalism.
Next, (it sounds exhausting but) Cotton Mather's incessant search for religious truth lead him to publish some 400 books, plus pamphlets. He wrote seven volumes(!) about the history of the colonization of America covering 1620 to 1702! We hope he found his Nirvana by '03.
The most famous sermon of the times was Johnathan Edward's "Enfield Sermon". He called it Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, and I think we can assume it was a good example of Calvinist brimstone-ing. Apparently, it put the congregation in complete terror while, at the same time, converts flocked in for the sensationalized show. Historians say his genius for oratory lay in the use of simple diction, logical thought & ripping it out "in a pitiless manner".
Congregations often gave nicknames to the most popular evangelists. Some of the early colonial "idols": "Son of Thunder" was Thomas Hooker who led his flock from Cambridge to Hartford in 1636. Later, in the same group, Thomas Shepard was "Soul-melting Preacher" and John Cotton was distinguished from the rest as "The One Who Condemned Anne Hutchinson".
It may be a stretch to claim that the military produces spoken word artists but we have heard the drill sergeant in enough American movies & in the hometown parades marching along side the ranks barking out the jodie song. The military mantra called cadence call is a kind of work song/chant with roots in the European battlefield. Before that, it can be traced to ancient Spartan phalanx training, maybe even a fisherman's or rower's "sea shanty".
The rhythmic chant used in marching or weapons drill is a creative solution for setting pace or keeping a large group in sync. Some chants have a call-and-response structure. Some ride merely on an eternal heave-ho monotony. Military chants are vocal drumming, are trance-like but energy producing. The psychological effect is all about instilling the values of teamwork, spirit & submission for the greater cause. A squad leader or drill sergeant is a spoken word-er by our definition. To perform the cadence a soldier has to perfect the conventions of that specific genre & this word-er displays a high degree of vocal talent.
The cadence must have been heard in our Telling Roots era but only in the encampment yard for drills & exercise. (The terrain outside the fort wasn't exactly pristine for marching around in large ranks). Later, as work crews got busy building roads, towns & shipping docks, the jodies would become a familiar song in the early American soundscape.
The cadence chant (as well as call-n-response) was a common "crowd control" work chant heard in the history of hard labor— slave songs, prison songs & chain gangs. It would be difficult to say where or when these chants first appeared. Many cultures world wide, since the birth of civilization, have used vocal rhythm to coordinate group effort, whether it was democratic participation or a means of control. Either way, it beats… sound-off, 1-2… over centuries… sound-off, 3-4. Fall in line little Jodie! Count cadence(!), 1-2-3-4…"
This brings us to the topic of slavery, a critical line of the Telling Roots era. Here is where we uncover a terrible truth pulling back the dark soil that exposes some tender roots. America was built on the blood & courage of thousands of West Africans who were torn from their homes, chained, abused & forced into labor. The first Black slaves arrived in 1619 via Dutch slave traders because they couldn't find any buyers in the West Indies on that particular trip. "Try Jamestown, those doodle-dandies might take 'em." It was the beginning of a long American "tradition" of importing captives out of Elmina, the "slave factory." Elmina was located on Africa's Guinea coast, and there were many other slave trading posts operated by the Portuguese, Dutch & English. This inhumane commerce went on for hundreds of years. This was a hell-thirsty root in America's history. What does this have to do with American Spoken Arts?
African's brought their unique art— this includes their words— the African spoken arts were carried over with that jangle of heavy chain. The patterns, rhythms & phonetics of the original tribal languages & music can still be heard, today, in American blues-talkin & toastin, in jazz poetry, when the DJ does the scratchin or reggae riddims get the people swaying to a sunny beat. The most current spoken art forms reflecting African heritage are Steppin (an athletic group activity, call-n-response & body-slapping dance) and, of course, Hip Hop/Rap innovations.
We have seen it chronicled by some sources that Phillis Wheatley was the first African American, the first slave & third woman in the US to publish poetry. Yet, we know she came to Boston in 1761, so though the poetry praise is true, we have to challenge "the first slave & first Af-Am" claim. She is likely the first "emancipated" slave & first "Americanized" African American; she became proficient in theology, English, Latin & Greek & traveled abroad as an engaging orator. She was an internationally known spoken word-er who inspired much discussion around social/political issues while promoting her lyrical verse.
The first African Americans, then, were children born of the first slaves, those who survived the hell-bound journey to the new land and who, as we said, arrived as early as 1619. So the first Afro-Am spoken word-ers were the storytellers of the West African oral tradition, religious leaders & vocal/musical performers.
Call-n-response interaction is pervasive in the African group settings— religious gatherings, kids' vocal games, discussions & storytelling. Like in the Native American storytelling, African language was (is) tonal and the spoken arts served to connect the individual with the group. Speaker & listener create in an atmosphere of democratic participation.
The African word-er was a multi-faceted performer, a historian, storyteller, praise singer/musician. Today this is called a griot (GREE oh). A griot can be male or female (griotte) and traditionally is associated with a single family as historian of that family's genealogy. They were the keepers of the tribe's memories by singing/reciting long poetic narratives. At social gatherings the griot/griotte could recount stories or give praise for people's accomplishments. It was common for griots to compete during certain events & they were accompanied by traditional instruments— djembe, balafon or kora.
Of course because of the disruption of slavery (understatement), so much of the West African family histories were lost. But there are griots & griottes still today. Their role has changed somewhat. You may see them on television; they record CD's, provide entertainment for special events & tour universities to give insight into African culture. They are still making & holding the history but, now, they are singing praises worldwide about African literature & the tremendous courage of their ancestors.
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