Publications
I Was Here When the Woods Were Burnt
"I Was Here When the Woods Were Burnt" is the first publication of the Texas Folklore Society.[7] This account appears in a 1946 TFS sheet and the 1925 reprint of Happy Hunting Ground.[8] Happy Hunting Ground is a "collection of popular folklore from Central and South America, including Mexican ballads, primitive art, cowboy dances, reptile myths, superstitions, Indian pictographs, and other folktales."[9] The piece was originally a speech given during the twenty-fifth anniversary of the organization in April 20, 1934 by then President Leonidas Warren Payne.[10] This piece's presentation at the Founders' Day dinner in the Union Building at the University of Texas marked the perseverance and accomplishments of the Society.[10] In the speech, Payne narrates the inception of the Texas Folklore Society, which began as a conversation between himself and John Avery Lomax in 1909, after a Thanksgiving collegiate football game.[11] Interestingly, he uses racially charged language to detail the brilliance of their plan by comparing themselves to African-American children. In reference he states, "I think the case is somewhat similar to that of the two little darkies sitting snuggled up to each other... One said to the other, 'Who's sweet?' and the other replied, 'Bofe uv us!'.[11] Thus, they regarded themselves as elite, white, and intelligent subjects--thus, these became the very individuals they sought after to join the Society. Afterwards, they determined academia to be the necessary elite space to gather folklorist whom document Texas culture they proceeded to draft a charter for the organization.[11] All in all, the speech's symbolism placed Payne at the origin of the Society, thus firmly founding its prosperity.[12] This speech reflects the lack of diversity in membership, as many proceeding publications depicted racial stereotypes. Yet, in response to these claims, editor J. Franke Dobie stated, "It is none of the editors business".[12] Despite TFS writers becoming the "most educated and sophisticated people of their time and culture"[12] they knowingly distributed accounts that justified the racial hierarchy.
Indian Pictographs Near Lange's Mill, Gillespie County, Texas
Amanda Julia Estill (1882–1965) was a white Texas-American teacher who served as a member and eventually became the president of TFS in 1923.[13][14] Estill was one of the first members to publish information regarding Native American culture in Gillespie County.[14] In this piece, as published in the 1925 collection history entitled, Happy, Hunting Ground, she recounts the combative history between Native American Comanches and neighboring whites with Gillespie County.[8] In doing so, she historicizes the pioneering efforts of Julius Lange, a German Mill owner. Estill collects his stories describing bouts with "savage Indians" who would "capture or kill... pretty pioneer maidens with long flowing hair".[8] While Estill highlights several instances in which Native peoples appear to attack several white families, she also discusses Native American weaponry and writings in grave detail. For example, she mentions how indigenous subjects would dip arrows in the poison from venomous snakes to ensure the fatality of their victims when pierced.[8] Within the concluding pages, Estill includes several reiterations of what she calls Native American "scribe".[8] As depicted in figure one, nearly all of her characterizations represent Native Americans harming white subjects. Estill's writings serve to distribute racial stereotypes amongst broad audiences by solely depicting the perspective of while settler colonials, a negative attribute often seen in the folklore genre.[15]
A Biscuit For Your Shoe; A Memoir Of County Line, A Texas Freedom Colony
Beatrice Upshaw is an African-American Texas Folklore Society member, whose other careers include being a performer, therapist, and Bible study instructor.[16] In 2020, Beatrice Upshaw published this account historicizing the African American community located in the Texas Freedom Colony, Upshaw, located near Nacogdoches.[17] In doing so, she utilizes this memoir to record her family's culture, beliefs, historic games, and more.[18] Upshaw notes how race played an important factor in how she was raised and socialized. She remembers playing within the bounds of the segregated 'Black Jack Cemetery,' where black individuals were not allowed to become buried on the premises.[17] Even within her childhood, Upshaw fully recognized racial boundaries and the Southern customs. Throughout her narrative, she depicts how these attributes shaped the culture and identity of the black Upshaw community. This narrative represents the shift in perspectives that are currently marks the folklore genre. While it took a century to fully include black authors in TFS, the African American authors are still marked by respectability politics and occasionally engage in the stereotyping of urban versus rural African-Americans. While discussing the Upshaw community, Upshaw states the following, "There were no evils then, not in our corner of the universe...Far and away from us was the worry of drive-by shootings, drug busts, robberies, and murders...We were innocent, naive, country folks who largely made up the backbone of the nation—then."[19] While African-Americans have made strides in diversifying TFS, they still have limitations. Alas, often folklorists are not connected to the peoples that they seek to study. However, new authors blaze trails for folklore writers to become not just cultural advocates but activists.[20]
