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Why all the disagreement? Folklorists explain that the forms, meanings, contents, and contexts of legends change constantly, making it difficult to pinpoint exactly what a legend is. Scholars do agree, however, on a basic academic definition: legends, like fairy tales and folktales, comprise a genre of stories. Most also concur that legends are stories whose truthfulness is in question; in other words, they are stories left open to question and personal interpretation. After those definitions, though, many others exist, including the following concepts:
- Legend telling is a socially accepted way to express fear. It also serves to warn others about real or perceived dangers.
- Legend telling is a way to open debate on social problems. “The best tellers—and the most popular legends—have the potential to transform social structures for better or worse,” says Dr. Bill Ellis, associate professor of English and American studies at Penn State Hazleton. “Hence legend telling is often a fundamentally political act.”
- Legends begin with a bit of truth—they are often about real historical figures or events—but time has blurred the line between history and fiction. The facts of a legend may have been creatively altered to make a moral story, or, like the children’s game of telephone, they may have been skewed after multiple retellings. “Legend is a genre capable of straddling the divide between fact and fiction, partaking of the nature of both,” observes Dr. Gillian Bennett, editor of the British journal Folklore.
- Legends, like all folklore, serve to bring a group of people, such as families, students in a college, and residents of a town or nation, closer together.
As you read about the legends presented in the workshop, look for the features discussed above and try to find other similarities between the stories. Share your observations on the Bulletin Board.
This workshop is arranged by how North
Carolina legendary figures affected their communities. Some played a part
in creating new communities; others earned notoriety by defending their
ideals and fighting for their neighbors. A number of African American worked
to increase economic, educational, and political rights, thus uplifting
their communities and becoming legends in the process. Some legends inspired
their community by their bravery or great achievements. Rounding out the
group is one notorious outlaw who defied his neighbors and his society’s
laws.
| Myth, Fairy Tale, Legend: What’s the
Difference?
Myths are sacred stories that explain what we can’t understand, such as death, human nature, the creation of the earth and life, and natural phenomena. Myths are not true, but myth tellers believe that they are. Fairy tales, which usually begin, “Once upon a time,” provide young people with moral lessons, such as making judgments between right and wrong. These stories are completely fictional and are not set in a particular time or place. Legends are set in a specific time and place and often are about actual people or events. However, fact and fiction are usually intertwined, leaving the stories’ validity in question. |
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Sallie Southall Cotton published The White Doe: The Fate of Virginia Dare in 1901. This 1937 reprint edition commemorated the 350th anniversary of Dare’s birth. |
Some legends find voices in print; indeed, most of the legends featured in this workshop have been published in some way. For instance, Sallie Southall Cotten published The White Doe: The Fate of Virginia Dare, an epic written in verse, in 1901. Daniel Boone has been the subject of many books, both fiction and nonfiction, beginning with The Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boon by John Filson, published in 1784. The book served to immortalize Boone as an American legend. False information about the death of Charles Drew, the African-American physician who pioneered the blood bank system, appeared frequently in the popular press during the Civil Rights movement; the incorrect stories persist today in the press and even in textbooks. |
Legends are sometimes immortalized in songs. Someone began singing the first verses of “The Ballad of Tom Dooley” around the time that Tom Dula (a North Carolinian not discussed in the workshop) was hanged for killing Laura Foster in March 1868. Today, there are more than one hundred verses of the song. Songs about Flora MacDonald include “The Skye Boat Song” and “Flora MacDonald’s Lament.”
Plays, movies, and television also carry on legends. Strike at the Wind, a drama about Henry Berry Lowry and the Lowry band, plays each summer at the North Carolina Indian Cultural Center in Pembroke. Summer visitors to the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site in Manteo can watch The Lost Colony, an outdoor musical drama loosely based on the ill-fated 1587 Roanoke colony into which Virginia Dare was born. Swashbuckling B-movies have kept Blackbeard and Daniel Boone popular adventure heroes among children today. Many movies and documentaries have depicted Babe Ruth’s amazing baseball prowess. An episode of the popular television sitcom M*A*S*H cemented the incorrect version of Charles Drew’s death in the public’s mind.
Advertisers sometimes perpetuate legends. Virginia Dare was a popular marketing tool in the twentieth century. Virginia Dare Rum Sauce was patented in 1920; the Virginia Dare Extract Company portrayed Dare on its soft drink bottles; Virginia Dare Burr Stone Water Ground Corn Meal, produced in the state, reminded North Carolinians of their regional identity; and Elizabeth City had the Virginia Dare Hotel. Daniel Boone’s name and image have appeared on soft drink bottles, whiskey decanters, educational games, and toys. Bakery, dairy, and ice cream companies, along with wine, cigars, watches, shoes, hats, makeup, dinnerware, silverware, cigarette lighters, stemware, and more have all been named after Dolley Madison (although most used the common misspelling of her name, Dolly). And, though officially disputed by the Curtiss Candy Company, the Baby Ruth candy bar may have been named for the baseball star Babe Ruth, as most believe.
Dolly Madison Ice Cream,
one of many products named for the famous first lady, played on the popular
myth that Madison was the first person to serve ice cream in the White
House. That credit rightfully goes to Thomas Jefferson. Courtesy of the
Dolley Madison Project.
Retailers have also learned that souvenirs of popular legends sell well. The Dare Bear Family, a series of stuffed animals, and corn husk dolls featuring the Dare family have continued the Lost Colony’s legacy. Robeson County visitors can find T-shirts, buttons, coins, baseball caps, and other mementos honoring Lumbee hero Henry Berry Lowry. Blackbeard and Daniel Boone souvenirs of all descriptions abound in gift shops across the country. (Ironically, Boone never wore a coonskin cap, the souvenir item most closely associated with him; he didn’t like them and wore instead a brimmed slouch hat made from beaver.) Children can play with Dolley Madison dolls and paper dolls, and families can hang the famous first lady’s likeness from the Christmas tree. Babe Ruth merchandise runs the gamut from life-size cutouts to computer games.
Many legends have places or events named in their honor, such as Virginia Dare Day at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site; Flora MacDonald Academy in Red Springs; Henry Berry Lowry Road in Lumberton; Daniel Boone Village in Hillsborough; the town of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania; Tsali Recreation Area in Nantahala National Forest; and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles. Other tributes to legends include paintings, museum exhibits, statues, sports cards, coins, postage stamps, and historical markers.
This barrage of public recognition serves
not only to perpetuate legends but also to remind us of how important legends
are to our culture.
| On the granite of hard fact grows the
moss of legend, and even pure myth contains its grains of stony reality.
. . . Not even American historians can ignore legends.
—Allan Nevins, Gateway
to History
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Contemporary legends have the same the features as traditional legends, the major difference being that contemporary legends are stories created recently about current issues and people. The popular term urban legend emphasizes the difference between these latter-day legends and their traditional, mainly rural predecessors.
Because urban legends are about life and society today, many concern new technologies and societal fears that didn’t exist when most traditional legends arose. Computer viruses, airline travel, terrorism threats, malicious HIV transmission, and anthrax scares often appear in urban legends. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, a number of urban legends about those events arose as a result of Americans’ uncertainty and fear.
As with traditional legends, urban legends are passed verbally, but they also spread via the Internet, e-mail, and the media. These methods reach large numbers of people very quickly; thus, urban legends are distributed much faster than traditional legends ever were.
Will urban legends have the staying power of traditional legends? After all, Blackbeard’s infamous exploits are still thrilling people today, some three hundred years after they supposedly happened. The tale about the alligator in the sewer may be around fifty years from now, although it seems unlikely. These new legends, though, do serve as an important outlet for expressing anxiety and discussing societal problems. They can also help form bonds between groups of people. As the world grows seemingly more dangerous every year, we’re bound to hear and read many more such legends.
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Relic hunters combing the alleged sites of Blackbeard residences have turned up items like this button. Fred Olds, the founder of North Carolina’s Hall of History (now the North Carolina Museum of History), collected such relics enthusiastically and added them to the museum’s artifact collection. |
Museums in the early twentieth century
were not immune to the lure of artifacts alleged to have belonged to or
used by legends. Fred Olds, the founder of North Carolina’s Hall of History
(now the North Carolina Museum of History), and his associates enthusiastically
collected relics such as a wine bottle fragment, an earthenware vessel,
a brick, and a button found at sites where Blackbeard supposedly lived;
the gourd dipper Mary Slocumb reportedly used while tending wounded soldiers
during the Revolutionary War; and a wood fragment that may have been part
of a pine log from Boone’s North Carolina home. These artifacts remain
in the museum’s collection today, although their authenticity has never
been verified. Museums today require proof that the objects added to their
collections are genuine.
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http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/urbanlegends/
A number of useful resources about urban legends.
Folktale, Myth, Legend and Fable
http://www.pittsfordschools.org/webpages/rzogby/files/folklore%20folktale%20myth.pdf
This Web
page explains the differences between folktales, myths, legends, and fables.
Once Upon a Time: Lessons for Teaching about Fables, Fairy Tales, Folktales, Legends, Myths, Tall Tales
http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson279.shtml
This Web site from Education World
offers a number of lesson plans and resources on folklore for all grades.
Urban Legends Reference Pages
http://www.snopes.com/
Information about specific urban legends
and a general explanation of urban legends in the FAQ section.
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Complete one of the following assignments:
Option 1:
Create a lesson plan about the meaning
and importance of a legend. Customize it for the subject and grade level
you teach.
Option 2:
Research a legend or urban legend from your
family or community. Try to determine when, why, and how the legend originated
by reading primary documents (such as journals, diaries, and photographs)
and secondary sources (such as newspapers, books, and Web sites) and/or
by interviewing family or community members. Try to conclude if the legend,
or part of the legend, is true. Document your research methods and conclusions
in a narrative or outline. Include when and where you first heard or read
about the legend and why you think the legend, true or not, lives on.
Option 3: (If you are seeking reading
credits for this course, choose this option.)*
Develop a lesson plan that compares and contrasts
a legend, urban legend, fairy tale, and myth, and explores their place
in the genre of folklore. Include an activity in which your students write
an original story of one type.
*We strongly encourage you to contact your principal or LEA if you are interested in this option to receive prior approval. If questions arise, feel free to refer your LEA to Tricia Blakistone (919-807-7971 or tricia.l.blakistone@ncdcr.gov). If your LEA does allow you to earn reading credits and you complete Option 3 of this and Session 5's assignments and option 2 of Session 3 (along with either option of the other assignments for the full 40 contact hours), the museum will specify on your certificate of participation that you qualify for reading credits.
Submit your completed assignment via e-mail to tricia.l.blakistone@ncdcr.gov.
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