I believe oral tradition in African and African American culture is very important. It was a way for people to communicate and even pass down stories and traditions. In Things Fall Apart there were community story tellers who passed down information integral to traditions and community stories or superstitions. In the African-American culture seen in Beloved, stories and songs were used to tell people how to escape the life of slavery (for example through the Underground Railroad). Songs and singing could be used as an expression of values, sources of inspiration and motivation, expressions of protest, and as a communication tool.
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Oral tradition is often used as a way to pass on one's culture and beliefs, but I think in African American slave society, oral tradition represented not only the African culture, but also a means of survival. Songs and stories gave directions to escape. Conditions caused a change in the value of oral tradition.
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