Zora Neale Hurston: A Writing Life

On her “Record of Freshman Interest” form, Zora Neale Hurston, Barnard class of 1928, wrote in response to the question of what vocation or profession she had in mind after graduation, “I have had some small success as a writer and wish above all to succeed at it. Either teaching or social work would be interesting, but consolation prizes.”  No consolation prize was necessary as Hurston became one of American and African American literature’s finest writers, America’s first Black anthropologist, and a Black feminist ancestor and icon. A deep dive into Hurston’s work and writing life, this course reads Hurston as a narrative stylist and theorist in multiple genres: as poet, essayist, writer of short stories, novelist, playwright, folklorist, and memorist. The goal of this class is to read Hurston closely and widely and to identify and examine her aesthetic philosophy and stylistic choices as one of the first African American women able to have a writing “career.” We will concentrate on her work from the 1920s through the 1930s, when she was at Barnard, and a leading figure in the Harlem/New Negro Renaissance.

In her time, Hurston was adamant about writing for and about people like herself; she saw ordinary black people as keepers of a rich culture that should be celebrated and shared.  In this spirit, the assignments for this course will lead to final digital projects that can be shared with the Barnard community in anticipation of the centennial of Hurston’s matriculation and graduation from Barnard (1925-1928).  We will partner with the Digital Humanities Center at Barnard, as well as Barnard Archives; we will engage resources at Barnard, such as Hurston-focused issues of The Scholar and Feminist Online, and other institutions, such as Columbia’s Rare Book Collection, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Library of Congress. No prior experience with digital tools is necessary.