Strange Country Ep. 299: Charlotte Osgood Mason

Charlotte Osborne Mason was one of the biggest benefactors of the Harlem Renaissance but her patronage came with a cost. While she gave noted luminaries Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston monthly stipends to make art, she wanted a say in what the art would be in order to realize her vision: a flaming bridge to connect America to Africa. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly talk about this strange rich white lady who believed she knew more about being Black than the artists she supported with strings.

Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands

Cite your sources:

Boyd, Valerie. “About Zora Neale Hurston.” Zora Neale Hurston, 18 September 2024, https://www.zoranealehurston.com/about/. Accessed 7 May 2025.

Hosie, Rachel. “Powerful people act as if they’ve suffered a traumatic brain injury, find scientists.” The Independent, 26 June 2017, https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/powerful-people-brain-injury-traumatic-empathy-mirroring-keltner-study-science-a7807946.html. Accessed 13 June 2025.

“When Hurston Had a (Mule) Bone to Pick with Hughes.” Proquest, 20 June 2018, https://about.proquest.com/en/blog/2018/when-hurston-had-a-mule-bone-to-pick-with-hughes/.

Kaplan, Carla. Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance. HarperCollins, 2013.

Panovka, Rebecca. “A Different Backstory for Zora Neale Hurston’s “Barracoon.”” Los Angeles Review of Books, 7 July 2018, https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/different-backstory-for-zora-neale-hurstons-barracoon/. Accessed 7 May 2025.