jenifer daniels ♎ :verified:from reddit /TIL: #TIL a family in Georgia claimed to have passed down a song in an unknown language from the time of their enslavement; scientists identified the song as a genuine West African funeral song in the Mende language that had survived multiple transmissions from mother to daughter over multiple centuries
TIL that lots of folks don't know what oral history is (in the subreddit comments). yikes
Skribbler Tha Griot🤨🤔🧐🧐🧐
But…but how…how did they think ancient stories were passed down before paper was invented? Did they think cave paintings were just ancient emojis? I’m truly baffled right now.
eat_more_bees@ScribblerRVA @jentrification @_L1vY_ you're missing so much about this story: African slaves had their identities deliberately suppressed when brought to America. Most African-Americans don't know where their ancestors came from originally. They kept this song and the words accurate without even knowing the language, through multiple generations, well enough that it was identifiable. Usually oral traditions are understood by those keeping them.
@eatmorebees no no, @ScribblerRVA did read the article. they were responding to another toot where I referenced other ppl not knowing about oral histories
@jentrification @eatmorebees You’re a better one than I. I was just simply not gonna acknowledge the toot. Having my own Blackness blacksplained back to me ain’t worth responding to.
@ScribblerRVA yeah i get it. but i am also frustrated that folks aren't reading and they do need to know when they are wrong @eatmorebees