Zora Neale Hurston

1. Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) Yeah, you’re totally going to need to click to advance. Sorry.

2. From Riches to Rags • Most accomplished and prolific black female writer between 1930s-1960s • Celebrated black culture and rejected stereotypical portrayal of “pitiful black” that many activists created • Important part of Harlem Renaissance • Student of renowned anthropologist Franz Boaz • Work out of print since 1948 • Died 1960, in obscurity and buried in an unmarked grave (probably b/c no one could figure out who she was after all her lies…)

3. From Riches to Rags, but she’s dead, so does it even count anymore? • Hurston’s work began to resurface with the Civil Rights Movement in the 60s • Alice Walker (The Color Purple) did article for Ms. Magazine (1975) ever so creatively titled “In Search of Zora Neale Hurston” • Guess what she did? Yep. Went in search of ol’ ZNH. Found her unmarked grave and added tombstone: Zora Neale Hurston A Genius of the South 1901-1960 Novelist, Folklorist Anthropologist • The year of birth is wrong: should be 1891

4. In the beginning… • Dad (former slave/sharecropper) • Mom (Lucy Potts, daughter of landowners) • Was born in Notasulga, AL • At 1 yr old moved to tiny town Eatonville, FL • This was all-black, self-governing town since 1887 • Inspired pride for ZNH and she lied in autobio saying she was born here (hey, can you blame her) • Super side note: Dust Tracks on a Road (1942) autobio. • Mom died in 1904, dad abandoned them, sent her to boarding school, step-mom belonged in a Disney movie, so she up and moved to Baltimore (near a brother) finished high school and went to Howard University.

5. Baltimore’s lame… • Like most people seeking the love and adoration of millions, she moved to NY • There she met the “New Negroes” (as opposed to the old ones…?) who would go on to form the core of Harlem Renaissance • Movement lasted from 1917-1935 • Unique black artistic expression while rejecting black stereotypes

6. Attended Howard University and was later admitted to Barnard College where she studied under Boas (anthro.guy) • He encouraged her to do anthropological fieldwork in her hometown of Eatonville • Published “Sweat” in 1926 (Fire!! Magazine…’cus fire makes you sweat! HA!) • And now, a visual summary of the story:

7. Pictures are fun…let’s continue • Boas said, “Hey, you should do some anthropo. research, collect some A-A lore and all.” Thus began her quest, but… COM was a patron of Langston Hughes, too

8. Charlotte Osgood Mason was slightly creepy… • ZNH got some good ethnographic material, but COM had editorial control, so …the end of relationship…

9. Moving on… • She worked with Langston Hughes in 1930 on play Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life but they broke up b/c of creative differences (she was “creative” with the truth; he wasn’t a compulsive liar…She got the kid in the divorce)

10. Nancy Cunard’s Negro: An Anthology (1934) • ZNH secured 6 essays for this collection • A year later, 1935, she placed her entire body of 70 folktale texts as a book: Mules and Men… • Had a forward written by her mentor Franz Boas

11. Lies! • 1933, “The Gilded Six-Bits” published in Story, a literary magazine • Most widely anthologized of her stories • Got the attention of Lippincott Publishers and they asked if she’d written a novel…as in, “hey, I’ll publish it…” • Being the compulsive liar that she is, she said “yes,” when the truth was a resounding “no.” No worries, though; she busted out Johan’s Gourd Vine within a few months. Normally, this is not a strategy I would recommend to writers, but since she got Book-of-the-Month recommendations for it, well, what the heck, right?

12. Reasons to lie about your age… • 2nd book of folklore, 1938, Tell My Horse • Travel funded by the Guggen. Fellowship (2 yrs worth of it in Haiti and Jamaica! I want a two year vacation to Jamaica…) steamy She has a hot and heavy (and brief) affair with a younger man. Much like Taylor Swift, she had to write out her angst…thus: Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937, still Lipp. Publishing) • Deals with marital drama, love, relationships, and rabies, and the characters had the dialect of her south Florida culture. • SHE WROTE IT ALL IN SEVEN WEEKS! Whoa…

13. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs • 1935: worked Harlem unit of the Federal Theatre Project division of the WPA • 1938: joined the Federal Writers’ Project (like everyone else and their dog) • Eleanor Roosevelt strongly supported this program for unemployed artists and writers. • The hiring project was free from discrimination (sure, sure it was) • ZNH was hired as an editor for the Florida state guide, but also did fieldwork, collecting songs, stories, and slave narratives (weren’t these the ones that influenced Studs?) • By the end of the 30s, ZNH had info collected for novel titled “The Florida Negro,” but it has never been published • 1939: Moses, Man of the Mountain, third novel published • It’s a comedic rework of the Moses story, kinda like Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat or Jesus Christ Superstar, only she wasn’t cool enough to create song and dance numbers

14. The absolutely true story of my fictional life • Dust Tracks on a Road, 1942, her autobiography • In her defense, she didn’t want to write it in the first place • Bigfoot has more factual data to support his existence than tale she wove for her own life • Arguably, it is the best piece of fiction she ever wrote

15. See, see, karma is the second letter of the alphabet… • Remember that whole affair with a younger man, drama drama, end and writes out her angst, publicly airing all the dirty laundry…yeah…karma…she is scary… • She was embroiled in SCANDAL—charged with ickyness with a minor (10-yr-old) in 1948. • Very Michael Jackson, except for the fact that she was innocent. • Although totally innocent--she was out of the country when it allegedly happened--she could never escape the personal humiliation • Just like that poor slob could never escape Their Eyes Were Watching God…can you even imagine what Taylor Swift’s exs go thru every time they turn on their radio…shudder.

16. Never the same • Not one to deal well with stress (i.e. lying) she couldn’t get over this scandal. • She held various jobs—maid, librarian, teacher—but never very long • In 1959 she suffered a debilitating stroke. • She lived 3 more months in a welfare home before dying in poverty on Jan. 28, 1960

17. Not a commie, am an Individual • Didn’t join the Communist Party or have a leftist political position. • Didn’t write “protest” literature _________________________________ • Did celebrate positive aspects of black life and culture. • Did fight against stereotypical portrayals of “Nergo life.”

18. Some political views • ZNH believe communism as destructive in political and the ARTS • Disagreed with New Deal welfare state • Thought is was a weapon for those seeking power and votes • Interesting fact: She opposed integration. • To enforce racial proximity interfered with individual liberty…and maybe the people, black nor white, want it.

19. “The Gilded Six-Bits” (1933) • Establishes this as a Negro house, Negro Settlement…but had white job support– G & G Fertilizer • It is a happy place: not rich, but definitely cared for and clean. • Plants bloomed cheerily, house & fence white-washed, porch & steps scrubbed, raked yard w/pattern, fresh newspaper cut in fancy shapes on the shelves

20. Missie May (beautiful and young) keeps house and loves her husband • Joe loves Missie May • Their Cute Little Love Game: • He comes home from work every Saturday, rings doorbell 9 times, throws her 9 SILVER dollars in the door, he runs and hides behind the jasmine bush…waits for her to mock chastise him (as a stranger) and give chase, catch, tickle, wrestle, etc., he has little presents for her in his pockets (get your mind out the gutter!) like candy kisses, sweet soap, gum, & handkerchief

21. Missie May calls herself “a real wife, not no dress and breath.” • She is real, human, with flaws and imperfections despite the initial appearance shown in her relationship with Joe • Their relationship is playful: banter that pretended to deny affection but in reality flaunted it (just like their Saturday game)

22. Treating his sweet to a sweet • Joe takes Missie May to the new ice cream parlor that has opened up • Owner: Mr. Otis D. Slemmons, scumbag • Joe describes him as up-to-date, finest clothes, got a belly (wealth), all the women are crazy about him (he said so himself), he got his gold from white women in Chicago, he got a $5 gold piece stick pin, and $10 gold piece watch chain • Missie saw him: mouth full of “gold teeths”

23. Joe says he wants to be like Slemmons • Missie says, “Ah’s satisfied with you jes’ lak you is, baby,” which makes what she does later even more horrible • Joe attempts to copy Slemmons looks (when Missie May isn’t looking) • Missie seems to recognized that Slemmons is a lying, steaming pile of pig crap (“His mouf is cut crossways, ain’t it? Well, he kin lie jes’ lak anybody else” and “Joe, Ah hates to see you so dumb”), again increasing the irony and tragedy of her affair

24. In a way, Joe puts into motion the events that lead to the affair • He brags so highly of Slemmons, openly makes it know he is jealous of him and covets his gold, tries to swagger like him, he knows Slemmons as a lady’s man who frequently, according to Slimmy, is pursued by “pritty womens” • Joe even says, “He talkin’‘bout his pritty womens—Ah want ‘im to see mine.” • All the things about Slimmy that Joe tries to emulate fail miserably—he “fitted ill with it”

25. Various Levels of Scum: The bad pickup line • Slemmons in all his creeperly horrific glory calls pretty girls 40s, ‘cus that makes him cool and different from the old scale from 1-10 bit. And he is such a *&#&&@^^@%&* that he mixes it up and says she’s a 38 plus 2. • Oooooh, ah hahahaha, you soooo funny! Soooo, so funny. AH HAha hahaarrrSHUT UP, JACKWAGGON!

26. Foreshadowing • ON the way home from ice cream, Missie May talks about gold looking better on Joe, randomly finding some in the road… • Joe laughs—seems to shake off his attempts to be Slemmons—and says he is happy being himself as long as he is Missie’s husband • DOOM! TRAGEDY! TEARS AND STUFF!

27. Is that the smell of impending doom? • Joe gets off early one night (around 11) b/c the gas runs out at the G. & G. • This could not happen to Sarah, though, because she never has gas in the first place • On the way home, Joe sees the silver lake and moon “With his feelings” and it makes him yearn for Missie. • Hello, symbolism. • He thinks about having kids (they’ve been married more than a year, after all—BREEDER) • “Making little feet for shoes”; wants a boy

28. And now, Doom. • He sees a light on in the bedroom • He slips in the kitchen door to clean himself up for Missie May, SURPRISE • After a series of really obvious I’m-not-doing-anything-wrong-don’t-come-in-here noises, light-flicky stuff, Joe walks into the bedroom to find Slemmons pants down with his wife. • Allusion to Sampson and Delilah • Slimy Slem begs for life and offers up $62 gold. • Joe’s reaction: laughs. Then punches him “like a battering ram” • I really like Joe in this scene, btw.

29. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya… • In a rather comedic visual considering the situation, Joe proceeds to beat the crap out of Slemmons as Slemmons tries to simultaneously hop into his pants and out the door. • Joe breaks the golden watch charm and chain, has it clutched in his fist • Missie, predictably, cries uncontrollably b/c “Cause Ah love you so hard and Ah know you don’t love me no mo’.” • Should have thought about that before you tramped yourself out, Harlot.

30. “No more Saturday romps. No more silver dollars…no pockets to rifle” • Joe coldly (justifiably) says: Well, don’t cry anymore. I got that gold piece you were after. • That night, Missie decides to kill herself (be gone forever) to get away from Joe’s censure—but he does not act cruelly or laugh at her • He is just a reasonably polite stranger, kind at times, indifferent, casual • He lays the gold coin btw them on the table (hello, symbolism) • Biblical allusion: Lot’s wife, Missie looks back (remembers her sin) and turns to salt (tears) • Simile: the yellow coin is like a monster hiding in the cave of Joe’s pockets to destroy her

31. A guy is still a guy • And eventually “youth triumphed and Missie exulted.” • Please, please don’t ask me to explain this. • She wakes up and Joe has placed the gold coin under her pillow (maybe he is moving on, letting it go…but maybe he is buying her like a whore, just like Slemmons did…maybe…) She gives it back to him • Entre Irony: she realizes she was the dumb one, coin was a fake • He comes home every 10 days for…well… yeah…She gets knocked up

32. Mutual Hatred • Missie hates Joe’s mom; Joe’s mom hates Missie • That woman prays for Missie’s defeat nightly • 6 months later, mom helps Missie deliver a baby boy • Mom actually does something nice: • Compliments Missie’s strength and ability to have more babies (Joe’s worried, asks how Missie did) • Says the baby is the spitting image of Joe • Says Missie isn’t so bad; she was just worried that she would be a bit of a floosy like her mother was • Joe doesn’t comment

33. I think it’s about Forgiveness • Joe messes around the house until late in the day (doesn’t see his wife right after the birth) • Right before leaving for work, he sits on the edge of Missie’s bed and asked how she felt. He does this every day that week • On Saturday, he went shopping in Orlando (the white town) • Bought meat & lard, meal & flour, soap & starch, cans of corn & tomatoes…stalls around…buy bananas & apples…stalls…goes to the candy store and buys the molasses kisses he used to always buy • Pays for them with the gilded half-dollar (4-bit)

34. Clueless • Joe tells the story of Slemmons and his wife, but leaves it vague, as if he is only repeating some gossip not a painful part of his life • Laughes (Ha ha!) repeatedly in the telling • When asked if he got fooled, he replies no and says he beat the guy when he tried and took the 4 bit off him. • Says he only wants the kisses (not chocolate) b/c he has a baby boy at home now and he can suck on the candy • Clerk is idiot—says he wishes he could be like a black man, just laughing and no worries

35. The End, awwww • Joe returns home and throws 15 silver coins in the door (symbolic) • Missie creeps to door as quickly as post-baby body allows her to do • Joe BANKS, I hear you chunkin’ money…wait till Ah got mah strenth back and Ah’m gointer fix you for that.” • Little Love Game back on