The Oral Traditions of African American Literature is a subject frequently debated and dicussed by literary subjects. In order to properly understand the importance that Oral Tradition had on African Americans you try must understand why such tactics were used and were they can from. When Africans were taken from they country and forced to come to America as slaves they brought with them there culture, languages and customs. African Americans were forced to find other ways to express themselves and pass on there heritage and traditions. They expressed themselves through the use of story telling and songs.
             "This they would sing, as a chorus, to words which too many would seem unmeaning jargon, but which, nethereless, were full of meaning to themselves" (316, Douglass). This quote is an example of expressing there heritage through the use of songs. Go Down, Moses, Take My Hand Precious Lord & Steal Away Jesus are all other examples of Oral Tradition that African Americans have passed on from one generation to the next. These songs and folktales seen to weave into the narratives of slaves because these oral depictions were a part of there everyday life. Most narratives like "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," were written long after these events occurred. The stories and songs that they grew up with effected they lives daily which is the reason why we see many examples of Oral Traditions in there writings.
             The reactions of Phillis Wheatly and some of the slave narrators to oral slave literature would most likely be negative. The Literature of Slavery and Freedom 1746-1865, included the following passage: "Typically the antebellum slave narrative carried a black message inside a white envelope." These thoughts of producing writings that were padded with material to make them more acceptable to white Americans at the time would be definitely be looked down upon by slave narrators.
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