Episode Summary:
In the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston was already a nationally known novelist, anthropologist and member of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. Yet she saw her publishing income dry up during the Great Depression even with the publication of her best-known novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. When she took a job with the Writers’ Project in Florida, her first assignment was to write for the WPA Guide to Florida. In the hands of truth-seekers like Hurston and a young white co-worker, Stetson Kennedy, the Florida WPA guidebook would reflect a wide range of Florida life, “warts and all,” including a report of violent voter suppression in the 1920s—until editors started to push back. This episode follows that conflict.
Hurston also moved the Writers’ Project to record the songs and folktales of Florida culture. We hear from historians and bestselling novelist James McBride about how that work still resonates today.
Speakers:
Douglas Brinkley, historian
Peggy Bulger, folklorist
Tameka Hobbs, historian
Stetson Kennedy, author and Project alum
James McBride, author
Flo Turcotte, historian
Links and Resources:
Florida Memory Zora Neale Hurston Page
Zora Neale Hurston Collection at University of Florida
Florida Memory Stetson Kennedy Interview
NPR: Writer Finds Zora Neale Hurston’s Florida
Further Reading:
WPA Guide to Florida
Go Gator and Muddy the Water by Zora Neale Hurston, edited by Pamela Bordelon
Palmetto Country by Stetson Kennedy
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
Stetson Kennedy: Applied Folklore and Cultural Advocacy by Peggy Bulger
Democracy Abroad, Lynching at Home: Facial Violence in Florida by Tameka Hobbs
Credits:
Host: Chris Haley
Director: Andrea Kalin
Producers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor and James Mirabello
Writer: David A. Taylor
Editor: Ethan Oser
Assistant Editor: Amy A. Young
Story Editor: Michael May
Additional Voices: Amesha McElveen and Skip Coblyn
Featuring music and archival material from:
Joseph Vitarelli
Bradford Ellis
Pond5
Library of Congress
National Archives and Records Administration
For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorder
Produced with support from:
National Endowment for the Humanities
Florida Humanities
Stetson Kennedy Foundation
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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