William J. Faulkner
William J. Faulkner was an influential African American minister, educator, and folklorist, born on November 16, 1891, in Society Hill, South Carolina. Raised in a strict Christian household, Faulkner was inspired by storytelling from an early age, particularly the religious folktales shared by Simon Brown. He pursued higher education, earning a B.A. from the Young Men's Christian Association College and an M.A. in theology from the University of Chicago. Throughout his career, Faulkner was dedicated to community service, notably organizing summer camps for African American youth and advocating for equal salaries for African American teachers while leading the local NAACP chapter.
Faulkner served as a pastor in various churches, including the First Congregational Church in Atlanta and the Park Manor Congregational Church in Chicago, where he preached against racial segregation. He is best known for his book, *The Days When the Animals Talked: Black American Folktales and How They Came to Be*, published in 1977, which incorporates elements of African and Christian spirituality and humor to convey deep cultural truths. Faulkner's work has had a lasting impact on the preservation of African American folklore, influencing the popularity of traditional characters like Anansi and Brer Rabbit. He retired to Florida in 1962, where he continued his work as a storyteller until his death in 1987.
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William J. Faulkner
Writer
- Born: November 16, 1891
- Died: 1987
Biography
William J. Faulkner was born on November 16, 1891, in Society Hill, South Carolina. His parents were Laurence Faulkner, a postmaster and merchant, and Hannah Josephine Doby, a midwife, who were both descended from slaves. Together, his parents ran a grocery store that catered mainly to African Americans in Society Hill. Faulkner was raised a strict Christian, and when he was six he declared that his hero was John the Baptist. When he was nine, he met Simon Brown, a storyteller, who delighted Faulkner with religious folktales laced with humor and irony.
Faulkner attended the Mayesville Educational Institute in South Carolina through high school and then went to Springfield, Massachusetts, to complete a B.A. at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) College. After graduation, he worked as a secretary for the YMCA from 1914 to 1932 in Philadelphia and then in Atlanta. He organized Philadelphia’s first summer camp for African American boys in 1916 and Atlanta’s first such camp in 1920. In 1917 he married Elizabeth Able Cook, and the couple had four children. They moved to Atlanta in 1919, and Faulkner served as pastor of the First Congregational Church there from 1926 to 1933. He completed a M.A. in theology at the University of Chicago in 1934 and took graduate courses in sociology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1941. He was made dean of the chapel at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he became active in the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). His greatest achievement as an NAACP leader was a successful campaign in 1942 to gain equal salaries for African American teachers in the segregated public schools. Faulkner stayed at Fisk from 1935 to 1953 and became well known as a preacher, lecturer and storyteller. His “Easter Sunrise Sermon” was read on NBC radio in 1948.
From 1953 to 1961, Faulkner was pastor of the newly founded Park Manor Congregational Church in Chicago, where he preached against racial segregation and oppression. In 1962 he retired from the ministry to focus on collecting and recording African American folklore. Faulkner published only one major book in his lifetime, The Days When the Animals Talked: Black American Folktales and How They Came to Be (1977). A collection of twenty folktales and ten stories about African American slaves, the book blends Christian and African spirituality and draws on the tradition of using humor and irony to tell the bitter truths that Faulkner learned from Simon Brown. In 1962 Faulkner retired and moved to Florida, where he lived with one of his daughters. He had a stroke in 1982 and died in 1987. The Days When the Animals Talked is considered a landmark work of African folklore. The current popularity of traditional characters, including Anansi the Spider and Brer Rabbit, can be traced back to the liveliness and inventiveness of Faulkner’s work, which drew attention to the folklore and attracted further collecting and retelling.