112:
277:
20:
127:
Sometimes flight is mentioned as a general ability of select ancestors, outside of the specific context of an
African return. Flight could be by an individual, by a married couple (who might have to leave behind their children if not African-born), or as a collective act. In some Caribbean versions,
564:
231:
references the legend directly, and it is also alluded to in much of her other writing. In interviews, Morrison emphasized the flying
Africans as a real folk belief, not a mere metaphor. It also appears in Octavia Butler's 1980
299:
at Igbo
Landing. In Dash's research for the film, she found Igbo Landing had such salience that it was identified by tradition in many local places in the Gullah region.
175:
of the 1930s, though given the circumstances these are difficult to interpret; it appears in somewhat greater cultural detail in the slightly later
1086:
314:
914:""The next thing you know you're flying among the stars": Nostalgia, Heterotopia, and Mapping the City in African American Picture Books"
384:""One of Dese Mornings, Bright and Fair,/Take My Wings and Cleave De Air": The Legend of the Flying Africans and Diasporic Consciousness"
193:
in 1946 published a story under the title of the spiritual "All God's
Chillun Got Wings" as told to him by Caesar Grant. It appears in
1011:
1081:
335:
265:
970:
896:
805:
776:
749:
655:
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156:
104:
on Hoodoo. Another figure described in Gullah lore as flying on occasion and eventually returning to Africa is the folk hero
565:"Flying Back to Africa or Flying to Heaven? Competing Visions of Afterlife in the Lowcountry and Caribbean Slave Societies"
1041:
100:
that works by itself, and a never-empty pot that they leave behind, perhaps relating to the influence of the Yoruba deity
1106:
987:
1101:
361:
281:
356:
172:
47:
144:), or in the case of the Igbo Landing drownings, they were allegorized as walking on water to Africa.
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74:
1111:
962:
Black
Communications and Learning to Read: Building on Children's Linguistic and Cultural Strengths
690:""As the Crow Flies": Black Children, Flying Africans, and Fantastic Futures in The Brownies' Book"
430:"If You Surrender to the Air: Folk Legends of Flight and Resistance in African American Literature"
240:
217:
152:
1091:
888:
W.E.B. Du Bois and Race: Essays
Celebrating the Centennial Publication of The Souls of Black Folk
227:
137:
476:
1096:
246:
793:
739:
645:
616:
960:
886:
840:"Flights of Principled Fancy Dress: Steve Prince's Katrina Suite and the Neo-Slave Narrative"
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291:
190:
86:
65:: of freedom, death, the afterlife, and even metamorphosis or reincarnation. A common Gullah
51:
1019:
340:
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259:
58:
28:
111:
61:, scholars differ on the extent to which this should be seen as supernatural belief or as
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276:
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717:
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545:
457:
403:
182:
105:
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Though it is generally agreed that the legend reflects a longing for a reversal of the
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legend who escape enslavement by a magical passage back over the ocean. Most noted in
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348:
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The legend is the basis for the song "We Could Fly" on
Rhiannon Giddens's 2017 album
254:
233:
177:
171:
The legend appears a number of times in interviews for the
Federal Writers' Project
925:
851:
701:
576:
529:
518:"All God's Children Had Wings: The Flying African in History, Literature, and Lore"
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441:
395:
94:
39:
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151:, and also to the metaphor of a "caged bird". Spirituals in this vein include "
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Harriet Tubman: Slavery, the Civil War, and Civil Rights in the 19th
Century
89:
spirituality, and sometimes perform their ascension through a ritual like a
70:
929:
855:
705:
77:, although versions of the legend also occur across the African diaspora.
318:
66:
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utilized elements of the legend in her 1991 illustrated children's book
147:
The legend has been compared to the flying imagery found in a number of
148:
133:
97:
90:
839:
689:
674:
Crossing
Troubled Seas: The Metaphor of Flight in Caribbean Literature
477:"The flying Africans: extent and strength of the myth in the Americas"
461:
429:
407:
383:
305:
913:
23:
The flying Africans legend reflects a longing for a reversal of the
672:
445:
399:
62:
19:
988:"Folk Music Shares African Tradition Of People Being Able To Fly"
885:
Fontenot, Chester J.; Gardner, Sarah; Morgan, Mary Alice (2001).
827:(PhD dissertation). Graduate Center, City University of New York.
43:
647:
Wishbone: Reference and Interpretation in Black Folk Narrative
309:, and in subsequent artworks including the 1996 subway mosaic
355:. Hamilton's collection also inspired the naming of the 2021
189:, where those who have consumed salt are unable to fly away.
85:
In a Gullah context, the flying Africans are associated with
215:
was written in 1967. It is mentioned in Ishamel Reed's 1976
129:
101:
744:. The Annotated Books. Liveright Publishing. p. 203.
738:
Gates, Henry Louis Jr.; Tatar, Maria, eds. (2017-11-14).
163:
experienced dreams of flying "like a bird" in her youth.
621:
African American Folklore: An Encyclopedia for Students
884:
140:, to growing wings, to turning into birds (sometimes
93:. Gullah lore also associates flying Africans with a
253:
The legend itself is included as the title story of
317:, also inspired by the Lionel Hampton composition "
132:prevents people from flying, perhaps linked to the
69:given for this belief is the 1803 mass suicide at
824:The Heterotopia of Flight: Resisting the Domestic
694:The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth
481:New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids
1063:
260:The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales
136:tradition. The means of flight varied, from
918:Children's Literature Association Quarterly
800:. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 122.
347:self portrait series in 2017, including an
1042:"Revisiting the Legend of Flying Africans"
737:
650:. Univ. of Tennessee Press. p. 119.
492:
985:
791:
741:The Annotated African American Folktales
474:
275:
185:includes a Jamaican version in her 1938
110:
18:
1039:
911:
891:. Mercer University Press. p. 51.
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670:
614:
427:
381:
311:Flying Home: Harlem Heroes and Heroines
1087:Folklore of the Southern United States
1064:
764:
643:
562:
266:The People Could Fly: The Picture Book
75:resistance among newly enslaved people
958:
837:
821:Davis, Sarah Elizabeth (2015-09-30).
820:
733:
731:
515:
263:, and in the 2004 standalone reissue
1040:Allison, Sophia Nahli (2019-03-07).
610:
608:
606:
13:
728:
671:Aurelia, Dominique (2007-02-20) .
285:at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
46:culture, they also occur in wider
14:
1123:
765:Oertel, Kristen T. (2015-08-20).
603:
269:, with enhanced illustrations by
792:Beaulieu, Elizabeth Ann (2003).
115:Some versions have the Africans
1082:Culture of the African diaspora
1033:
1004:
979:
952:
905:
878:
831:
814:
785:
758:
798:The Toni Morrison Encyclopedia
681:
664:
637:
556:
516:Young, Jason R. (2017-01-15).
509:
475:McDaniel, Lorna (1990-01-01).
468:
421:
375:
244:and Charles R. Johnson's 1990
1:
615:Prahlad, Anand (2016-08-08).
569:Religion and American Culture
522:Journal of Africana Religions
368:
362:Before Yesterday We Could Fly
329:references the appearance in
282:Before Yesterday We Could Fly
986:Robinson, Dan (2020-02-20).
7:
959:Meier, Terry (2020-08-19).
157:All God's Chillun Got Wings
80:
10:
1128:
794:"Flying Africans, Myth of"
688:Fielder, Brigitte (2021).
534:10.5325/jafrireli.5.1.0050
357:Metropolitan Museum of Art
195:The Book of Negro Folklore
173:Slave Narrative Collection
965:. Routledge. p. 36.
912:Jenkins, Melissa (2016).
644:Jarmon, Laura C. (2003).
623:. ABC-CLIO. p. 103.
494:10.1163/13822373-90002024
327:Welcome II the Terrordome
166:
155:", "Now Let Me Fly" and "
48:African-American folklore
1107:Slavery in North America
1012:"Dreaming Gave Us Wings"
677:. King's College London.
349:experimental documentary
297:Praisesong for the Widow
241:Praisesong for the Widow
238:, Paule Marshall's 1983
153:Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
838:McCoy, Beth A. (2017).
563:Dewulf, Jeroen (2021).
289:Julie Dash's 1991 film
16:African diaspora legend
992:Wisconsin Public Radio
345:Dreaming Gave Us Wings
331:Daughters of the Dust.
286:
124:
52:Afro-Caribbean peoples
50:, and in that of some
32:
930:10.1353/chq.2016.0043
856:10.1353/cal.2017.0143
706:10.1353/hcy.2021.0041
428:Wilentz, Gay (1989).
292:Daughters of the Dust
279:
114:
22:
1102:Repatriated Africans
1016:Sophia Nahli Allison
341:Sophia Nahli Allison
315:125th Street station
271:Leo and Diane Dillon
59:Atlantic slave trade
29:Atlantic slave trade
581:10.1017/rac.2021.12
257:'s 1986 collection
197:of 1958, edited by
287:
183:Zora Neale Hurston
125:
106:John the Conqueror
33:
972:978-1-000-14962-3
898:978-0-86554-727-8
807:978-0-313-31699-9
778:978-1-135-94897-9
751:978-0-87140-756-6
657:978-1-57233-273-7
630:978-1-61069-930-3
617:"Flying Africans"
255:Virginia Hamilton
178:Drums and Shadows
1119:
1077:American legends
1056:
1055:
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1018:. Archived from
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382:Walters (1997).
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218:Flight to Canada
40:African diaspora
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1112:Flight folklore
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336:Freedom Highway
228:Song of Solomon
211:'s short story
199:Langston Hughes
169:
121:turkey buzzards
83:
38:are figures of
36:Flying Africans
17:
12:
11:
5:
1125:
1115:
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1099:
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1092:Gullah culture
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1058:
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1046:The New Yorker
1032:
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978:
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924:(4): 343–364.
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850:(4): 183–200.
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700:(3): 413–436.
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575:(2): 222–261.
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508:
487:(1–2): 28–40.
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446:10.2307/467579
420:
400:10.2307/467652
373:
372:
370:
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353:The New Yorker
301:Faith Ringgold
247:Middle Passage
225:'s 1977 novel
168:
165:
161:Harriet Tubman
82:
79:
25:Middle Passage
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9:
6:
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2:
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1097:Shapeshifting
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771:. Routledge.
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325:'s 1994 film
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187:Tell My Horse
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73:as a form of
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1049:. Retrieved
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1024:. Retrieved
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528:(1): 50–70.
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411:. Retrieved
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295:quotes from
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191:John Bennett
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95:magical iron
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71:Igbo Landing
56:
35:
34:
394:(3): 3–29.
359:exhibition
319:Flying Home
213:Flying Home
1066:Categories
1051:2022-02-22
1026:2022-02-22
997:2022-02-22
369:References
343:began her
149:spirituals
138:levitation
134:soucouyant
91:ring shout
1072:Afterlife
946:151378476
938:1553-1201
872:166565687
864:1080-6512
722:239734271
714:1941-3599
597:237392638
589:1052-1151
550:151519181
542:2165-5405
503:1382-2373
454:0163-755X
306:Tar Beach
235:Wild Seed
844:Callaloo
142:buzzards
81:Folklore
67:etiology
63:allegory
27:in the
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408:467652
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167:Legacy
87:Hoodoo
44:Gullah
942:S2CID
868:S2CID
718:S2CID
593:S2CID
546:S2CID
458:JSTOR
434:MELUS
404:JSTOR
388:MELUS
119:into
967:ISBN
934:ISSN
893:ISBN
860:ISSN
802:ISBN
773:ISBN
746:ISBN
710:ISSN
652:ISBN
625:ISBN
585:ISSN
538:ISSN
499:ISSN
450:ISSN
415:2022
201:and
130:salt
102:Ogun
926:doi
852:doi
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