!1

Race and Reputation: Looking for Zora Neale Hurston on the Florida Federal Writer’s Project

Katharine G. Haddad

Honors History Thesis

Dr. Lauren Pearlman

April 5, 2017 !2

Table of Contents

Abstract...... Page 3

Introduction...... 4-8

Chapter One: Foundations of the Federal Writer’s Project...... 9-14

Chapter Two: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston...... 15-27

Chapter Three: Flaws of the Florida Chapter...... 28-38

Chapter Four: Hurston vs. Racial Discrimination………………………………………...….39-48

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………….49-53 !3

Abstract

This research looks at the life and work of Zora Neale Hurston, specifically her time as part of the Florida chapter of the Federal Writer’s Project (FWP), a New Deal initiative. Most prior research on the time Hurston spent on the project focuses on her relationship with Stetson

Kennedy and their joint collection of Florida folklore. However, this focus overlooks the themes of racial discrimination which I argue plagued the Florida chapter of the FWP from the top down. This research draws heavily upon both primary and secondary sources including published letters from the archives at University of Florida Smathers Libraries, Hurston’s autobiography and publications on the Florida FWP. The racism which permeated the Florida chapter prevented

Hurston from making significant contributions to the project and this research analyzes the way this marginalization occurred. !4

Introduction

The pages of Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State are speckled with photographs.

The images in this Depression-era guide to Florida, published in the 1930s, paint a picture of a tropical paradise, where citizens live unhurried lives in the sunshine despite the economic turmoil surrounding them. There are images of pools in Coral Gables, regattas in Palm Beach, orange blossom and palm trees—the quintessential Florida imagery.1 The text follows this general theme, illustrating the highlights of Florida to promote tourism to the state. In order for the guide to be effective, its editors believed it needed to be largely free of controversy. Omitting this type of information, they argued, would present the state in a more desirable light. However,

Florida was not all sunshine during the 1930s. In spite of efforts by the editors, conflicting

Florida imagery emerged to challenge the flawless picture the guidebook presented—Florida’s cities and towns were plagued by racial tensions and violence. Florida newspaper headlines during the 1930s focused the spotlight on this overarching issue of racial relations.

On October 27, 1934, the headline of the St. Petersburg Times read “Negro Seized by

Florida

1 Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Florida. 1939. Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State. New York: Oxford University Press, 457. !5

Mob.”2

Figure 1: “Negro Seized by Florida Mob,” St. Petersburg Times, October 27, 1934.

Claude Neal of Jackson County, Florida was 23 years old when a mob of six white men lynched him. He was lynched after being accused of raping a young white woman, similar to the accusation made against countless other African American men during this time.3 Days before

Neal was lynched, the local newspaper warned, “Ku Klux Klan May Ride Again, Jackson

County Citizens May Rally to Fiery Cross to Protect Womanhood.” Realizing the danger Neal was in, the sheriff drove him from jail to jail in order to avoid lynching mobs that had formed in retaliation. This was not enough. The mob eventually seized Neal and brought him back to

2 Ben Montgomery, "FBI Closes Book on Claude Neal's Lynching without Naming Killers." (Tampa Bay Times) http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/fbi-closes-book-on-claude-neals-lynching-without-naming-killers/ 2191344.

3 James R. McGovern, Anatomy of a Lynching: The Killing of Claude Neal. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. Page 77-84. !6

Marianna, where the alleged crime took place.4 Thousands gathered to witness Neal’s lynching.

Hours later, his corpse was transferred to the Jackson County courthouse and hung from a tree.5

Neal was denied a fair trial, a common occurrence in the South during the first half of the 20th century.

The lynching of Neal was not an isolated incident. Months prior, on January 28, 1934 in

Tampa, Florida, police arrested Robert Johnson, a forty-year-old African American man, on charges of robbing and raping a white woman.6 He was then brought to a local jail and held for questioning. After an investigation by Tampa detectives, Johnson was declared innocent.

However, whites in the area were still convinced he raped the woman.7 They wanted Johnson killed, so they took matters into their own hands to ensure this was his fate. This was a time when racial discrimination permeated law enforcement offices all over the country, particularly the South. The Tampa office was no exception. Police uninvolved with the investigation were determined to charge Johnson with some type of offense, so they charged him with stealing livestock and released a warrant for his arrest.8 Instead of holding Johnson in the Tampa city jail, police decided to move him to the county prison.

Rather than have Tampa policemen or county deputies transfer Johnson themselves, a

“constable deputy” with no more authority or right to do so than a private citizen removed him

4 James R. McGovern, Anatomy of a Lynching: The Killing of Claude Neal. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. Page 77-84.

5 Ibid.

6 University of South Florida. College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Department of History, "Tampa Bay History 06/02" (1984). Digital Collection - Florida Studies Center Publications. Paper 2521. Page 8.

7 Ibid.

8 University of South Florida. College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Department of History, "Tampa Bay History 06/02" (1984). Digital Collection - Florida Studies Center Publications. Paper 2521. Page 9. !7 from the city jail in the middle of the night.9 Along the way to the county prison, three cars full of Johnson’s kidnappers intercepted the car. They took the prisoner to a wooded area off the beaten path. There, approximately thirty civilians had gathered to witness the prearranged lynching of Johnson.10 He was killed and left on the side of the road. The men who committed the heinous act were never uncovered or made to pay for their crimes.

This was the racial violence that tormented African Americans in Florida while the editors of Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State painted a different picture. They consciously excluded this shameful story from the guidebook, thereby controlling the way the

Florida narrative was told. The only time the book reliably highlights racial tensions is when it gives an explanation for why blacks have been barred from a certain Florida town since 1920.11

Ironically, the racial tensions which editors failed to document in the Florida guide plagued the organization which produced the book. To understand how racial tensions permeated the organization, one need look no further than Zora Neale Hurston, an African American woman with a background characterized by achievement. The Florida Federal Writer’s Project (FWP), a manifestation of New Deal arts initiatives, was the organization behind this publication. The director of this project was a white woman by the name of Carita Doggett Corse. She was responsible for controlling both which stories were included in the book and who would write them. The director of the folklore department, where Hurston worked, was a young, white man named Stetson Kennedy. Hired by Corse and supervised by Kennedy, Hurston’s time on the

9 Ibid.

10University of South Florida. College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Department of History, "Tampa Bay History 06/02" (1984). Digital Collection - Florida Studies Center Publications. Paper 2521. Page 8.

11 Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Florida. 1939. Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State. New York: Oxford University Press, 457. The town was Ocoee, Florida infamous for the Ocoee Massacre of 1920. !8 project was largely dictated by white overseers. This would define the parameters of Hurston’s journey. The racial dynamics of the Florida project were complicated, impacting everything from leadership to the fieldwork completed by its members.

When people remember Hurston’s time on the project, it is widely accepted that she traversed the state of Florida with Kennedy, collecting folklore and material for publication along the way. However, not surprisingly, historians familiar with the topic of Hurston’s time on the

FWP note that it was a time she was eager to forget. Evidence suggests that Hurston had issues with Kennedy, which may get to the crux of Hurston’s unease with the FWP as a whole. While the Florida Federal Writer’s Project had genuine goals and intentions to produce a guidebook reflecting Florida, I argue that it marginalized one of its greatest assets in the process –Hurston.

Racism from the federal government down to the local chapter and governing the relationship between Hurston and Kennedy, prevented Hurston from contributing significantly to both the guidebook and The Florida Negro, an initiative under the FWP with goals of reflecting black life in Florida. Not only that, but Hurston and her talents were used and exploited by both Kennedy and the FWP. Her skin color came to dictate her time on the project. !9

Chapter 1: Foundations of the Federal Writer’s Project

The Great Depression that followed the collapse of Wall Street in 1929 was the largest economic crisis in Western history to date.12 This financial disaster not only affected people with jobs directly in banking and finance, but virtually every American citizen. At the worst point of the Depression, almost 15 million Americans were unemployed, amounting to nearly 30% of the workforce.13 Unsure of the economic future of America, President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously devised and enacted the New Deal to aid struggling Americans in an effort to bring the country back to life. The New Deal took its shape in the form of multiple programs, revisions, and projects—many of which were highly experimental in nature. The Works Progress

Administration (WPA), founded in 1933, was one such program.14 The WPA had impressive statistics: it employed almost 9 million people and spent over 11 million dollars in federal relief throughout its 10-year course.15 The projects funded by the WPA stimulated the economy while actively engaging the unemployed and straying from direct relief payments. The idea behind this concept was to engage citizens to make them feel needed in society once again. This cost the

12Maury Klein, "The Stock Market Crash of 1929: A Review Article." Business History Review 75, no. 2: 325. America: History & Life, 2001.

13Ibid.

14 Eventually renamed the Works Projects Administration in 1939, but most commonly referred to as the WPA.

15Wilbur Joseph Cohen. The Roosevelt New Deal: A Program Assessment Fifty Years After. Austin, TX: Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, 1986. !10

WPA more in funds than were spent on other New Deal programs, but the directors believed it was worth the extra expense.16

Roosevelt boldly established certain programs with the sole intent of employing these artists and writers, a group economically marginalized during the Depression. 17 There were different agencies created to utilize artists: actors, writers, painters, etc. and they all fell under the organization Federal One.18 For example, there was a Federal Arts Project (FAP), a Federal

Music Project (FMP) and a Federal Theatre Project (FTP) amongst other projects in Federal

One.19 Despite this, writers were particularly difficult to engage in federal relief efforts. People were not reading newspapers, books or articles during this time; this was largely a leisurely activity that people did not have time for during the Depression. Therefore, the WPA directors deliberated for some time to figure out how to incorporate writers in a way that would simultaneously stimulate the economy. They came up with a writers’ division known as the

Federal Writers’ Project. This project, commonly referred to as the FWP, employed almost 7,000 writers during its four years of federal financing.20 According to David Taylor, author of Soul of a

People: The WPA Writers’ Project Uncovers Depression America, “It took time for officials to

16Ibid.

17 James A. Findlay, and Margaret Bing. "Touring Florida through the Federal Writers' Project." The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 23 (1998): 288. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.

18 James A. Findlay, and Margaret Bing. "Touring Florida through the Federal Writers' Project." The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 23 (1998): 288. Web. 17 Jan. 2017.

19 Ibid.

20 Douglas Brinkley. "Unmasking Writers of the W.P.A." The New York Times. The New York Times, 01 Aug. 2003. Web. 17 Jan. 2017. !11 settle on an objective that resembled an economic engine that involved a pen: travel guides.”21

This was the perfect answer to the question of how to stimulate the economy with writing.

The main initiative of the Federal Writers’ Project’s was to produce the American Guide

Series. Each state hired a team to create what was essentially a glorified tour guide to their respective states. This concept culminated in the production of 48 guides to the 48 territories at that time. The guidebooks were less like tour guides and more like encyclopedias teeming with information about all aspects of the state. The field workers of each state would investigate small cities, natural wonders and people of backcountry towns with stories to tell. This series accomplished two goals: it employed writers while also getting citizens on the road, spending money on gas, food, lodging and therefore, stimulating the economy. During the first year of the publications, over 35 million United States citizens traveled on the nation’s highways, visiting national parks, going camping and sightseeing.22 This is a true manifestation of what the directors of the WPA wanted to see the Federal Writers’ Project accomplish—it pushed citizens to mobilize, get on the roads, and explore their state and others.

21 David A. Taylor, Soul of a People: The WPA Writer's Project Uncovers Depression America. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2009. Print. Page 161.

22 James A. Findlay, and Margaret Bing. "Touring Florida through the Federal Writers' Project." The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 23 (1998): 288. Web. 17 Jan. 2017. !12

Florida: A Guide to the

Southernmost State was Florida’s entry for the American Guide Series.

The resulting guidebook was hundreds of pages long and covered everything from “quaint old St.

Augustine to metropolitan Miami”, as

John Tigert, former University of

Florida (UF) president, notes in the foreword of the book.23 The publication is broken into four parts.

Part I covers Florida’s background with sections on everything from transportation and labor to music and theatre. Part II covers the principle cities of Florida, expanding on twelve in particular: Daytona Beach, Jacksonville, Key West,

Greater Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach, Pensacola, St. Augustine, St. Petersburg, Sarasota,

Tallahassee and Tampa. Part III is entitled “The Florida Loop” and documents 22 “tours” of

Florida.24 These tours outline different trips that one could take to explore Florida. For example,

Tour 3 of the Florida guide takes the reader from Fernandina to Baldwin to Starke to Gainesville

23 Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Florida. 1939. Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State. New York: Oxford University Press.

24 Ibid. !13 to Cedar Keys. Under this same tour, there are sections that break down each leg of the trip, explaining how to drive through the towns. It is here that the reader will also find captivating information and anecdotes about each town. Many tours have stories of how little towns along the route got their names, the demographics, and origins of settlers. For example, one of the stops along Tour 6 is Tarpon Springs. Under the Tarpon Springs heading, it declares the town “sponge capital of America” and then explains how the town got its name: “The town was founded in

1876 and named, it is said, because of a mistaken belief that tarpon spawned in Spring Bayou; but the fish seen splashing in the water here…are mullet, for the most part.”25 The book is full of interesting facts. For example, there is a calendar of annual events at the beginning of the guidebook, which lists obscure events in cities across Florida. The Kumquat Bowl Football

Game, the State Shuffleboard Association Tournament and the Tin Can Tourists’ Yuletide

Celebration are among the events listed, along with the date and the city where they take place.26

Florida’s guidebook may have been similar to the other 47, but the chapter’s leadership and team of employees on the Federal Writer’s Project were unique; most every state had a male director in charge of its FWP chapter. However, Florida’s director was a white woman named

Carita Doggett Corse. From Jacksonville, Corse was a natural fit for the Florida branch.27 She had completed her undergraduate degree at Vassar College and earned her Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1913 and 1916, respectively.28 Corse served as the Florida director of the project between 1935 and 1942. The Florida chapter was also uncommon because it was

25 Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Florida. 1939. Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State. New York: Oxford University Press. Page 420-21.

26 Ibid, xxi-xxiv.

27 "Carita Doggett Corse." Florida Commission on the Status of Women. Accessed December 1, 2016. http:// fcsw.net/dt_team/carita-doggett-corse/.

28 Ibid. !14 one of only three other states, along with Virginia and Louisiana, with a “Negro Unit.”29 These units were “designed to address the unemployment situation of black writers and to produce volumes that focused specifically on black life in those states.”30 Hurston worked on one such unit, collecting ex-slave narratives and folklore while traveling throughout Florida.31

29 "The WPA and the Slave Narrative Collection - Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938." The Library of Congress. Accessed March 29, 2017.

30 Deborah G. Plant, 2007. Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Spirit. Page 72.

31 "The WPA and the Slave Narrative Collection - Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938." The Library of Congress. Accessed March 29, 2017. !15

Chapter Two: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston

Hurston led a storied career before starting work on the Federal Writer’s Project in

1938.32 However, her upbringing could not have predicted such fame. Hurston was born the fifth of eight children on January 7, 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama to parents John Hurston and Lucy

Ann Hurston.33 She lived in Eatonville, Florida for the majority of her childhood. Growing up in this town as a young African American gave her a unique perspective. Eatonville, located in central Florida, was the first black incorporated town of the United States.34 Consequently, the vibrant folk and the religious culture surrounding her had a great impact on young Zora.35 Not only did Hurston grow up in Eatonville, but her father was mayor the city for three successive terms and was a signer of its charter; therefore, her family was deeply ingrained in the community.36 Aspects of Eatonville would follow and support Hurston throughout her days as a writer and folklorist.

32 Catherine A. Stewart, Long Past Slavery: Representing Race in the Federal Writers' Project. N.p.: Paw Prints, 2016. Print.

33 Nellie Y. McKay "Zora Neale Hurston." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (2006): Print.

34 Ibid.

35 Ibid.

36 Ibid. !16

Her mother’s death, when she was 13 years old, destroyed her.37 Hurston recalled,

“Mama died at sundown and changed a world.”38 When it came to storytelling, Zora’s mother was her first real audience and fan. According to scholar Pamela Kester-Shelton, “The loss marked the beginnings of Hurston’s ‘wanderings’—living with relatives, traveling, and working odd jobs.”39 Zora took her first job at age 14 working with a traveling Gilbert and Sullivan Opera

Company, which took her away from Eatonville.40 She was hired by the company as a wardrobe assistant and maid. Her decision to travel with the opera company and leave her hometown was triggered by the fact that her father remarried after her mother died and all of her siblings were separated.41 This deeply upset Hurston and tore the family apart. Yet Eatonville would follow and support Hurston throughout her days as a writer and folklorist.

Hurston’s diverse schooling allowed her to experience a variety of cultures and places.

After traveling with the Gilbert and Sullivan Company for a few months, she left the group in

Baltimore. It was here that she attended high school at Morgan Academy, where she graduated in

1918.42 Throughout high school, Hurston worked as both a nightclub waitress and a manicurist in order to pay for school and living expenses.43 After graduation, she traveled to Washington D.C.

37Pamela Kester-Shelton, "Zora Neale Hurston." Feminist Writers (1996): Web. 17 Jan. 2017.

38 Ibid.

39 Pamela Kester-Shelton, "Zora Neale Hurston." Feminist Writers (1996): Web. 17 Jan. 2017.

40 Nellie Y. McKay "Zora Neale Hurston." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (2006): Print.

41 Pamela Kester-Shelton, "Zora Neale Hurston." Feminist Writers (1996): Web. 17 Jan. 2017.

42 Nellie Y. McKay "Zora Neale Hurston." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (2006): Print.

43 The Estate of Zora Neale Hurston. "The Life of Zora Neale Hurston." The Official Website of Zora Neale Hurston. N.p., 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. !17 and attended Howard Preparatory School for a year before taking courses on and off at Howard

University from 1918-1924.

Hurston’s years spent at Howard University were some of the most formative for her both personally and professionally. First, her journey to the university was complicated. Howard

University was the pinnacle of African American education—the largest black university in the country—and Hurston did not believe she was qualified enough for such a prestigious institution.44 Nationally, there were less than 2,200 African Americans enrolled in colleges at this time, and Hurston realized attending Howard would not be easy, if even possible.45 However, after friends told her she was “Howard material,” she moved to Washington D.C. to pursue an education at the elite university.46 With little money upon moving there, she found a job at waiting tables Cosmos Club in northwest Washington D.C. This was a members-only club with two qualifications, members must be white and male.47 The clientele were people like Theodore

Roosevelt, along with other government officials and intellectuals.48 Hurston would later recall,

“I learned things from holding the hands of men like that.”49 This foreshadowed the interactions she would have throughout the rest of her life, specifically on the FWP with Kennedy.

44 Valerie Boyd, "Zora Neale Hurston: The Howard University Years." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 39 (2003): 104-08. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.

45 Valerie Boyd. "Zora Neale Hurston: The Howard University Years." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 39 (2003): 104-08. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.

46 Ibid.

47 Valerie Boyd. "Zora Neale Hurston: The Howard University Years." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 39 (2003): 104-08. [JSTOR]. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.

48 Ibid.

49 David Montgomery. "Eatonville Restaurant and Eatonville, Fla." Washington Post. N.p., 16 Nov. 2009. Web. 9 Feb. 2017. !18

After working throughout the summer, Hurston went to register for classes at Howard, only to be told that she was not “fully prepared” for the rigor of the institution.50 So Hurston enrolled in Howard Academy taking preparatory classes in a variety of subjects including

English, Latin, History, and Geography.51 She completed her work at the prep school in May of

1919 and was ready to start at Howard University that fall semester.52 Howard University stole her heart from the beginning. She never took her time there for granted, having to work particularly hard to focus on her studies while maintaining the job that put her through school.53

Zora immediately got involved at Howard and in no time joined a sorority, Zeta Phi Beta, with a reputation as the intellectual sorority.54 This organization also provided Hurston with a sense of sisterhood and family, which she deeply loved and had longed for since her mother’s death.55

One of her sorority sisters remarked, “She was brilliant…But we always thought of her as a rather odd person. She was just too brainy for us.”56 Hurston stood out from the beginning as a special type of student and person.

Hurston joined the staff of The Stylus, Howard University’s literary magazine, in 1921.

Here Hurston found her niche along with other writers who stimulated her intellectually.57

50 Valerie Boyd. "Zora Neale Hurston: The Howard University Years." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 39 (2003): 104-08. JSTOR [JSTOR]. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.

51 Ibid.

52 Ibid.

53 Ibid.

54 Valerie Boyd. "Zora Neale Hurston: The Howard University Years." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 39 (2003): 104-08. [JSTOR]. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.

55 Ibid.

56 Ibid.

57 Valerie Boyd. "Zora Neale Hurston: The Howard University Years." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 39 (2003): 104-08. [JSTOR]. Web. 7 Feb. 2017. !19

Hurston’s first short story “John Redding Goes to Sea” was published in the magazine in May of

1921.58 “John Redding Goes to Sea” was a short story which foregrounded themes that would permeate Hurston’s writing for the rest of her life. The story was classified as fiction, but had autobiographical elements dispersed throughout.59 The main components of the story that repeat themselves in Hurston’s later works are: a focus on African American dialect and language, familial themes and voodoo.60 Scholar Valerie Boyd argues that with the publication of “John

Redding Goes to Sea,” “Hurston was beginning to move away from emulating the European models of literature so highly heralded at Howard and elsewhere.”61 Essentially, she was beginning to establish her own writing style, recognizing that the vibrant African American culture she had been raised in was worthy material for her literary endeavors.62

After her time at Howard University, Hurston moved to New York in 1925. Her move corresponded with the height of the Harlem Renaissance.63 Albeit a completely different environment, the cultural proliferation Hurston experienced in New York during this time greatly mirrored that which she grew up with in Eatonville. The Harlem Renaissance was a time and place in history where African American culture flourished freely. Even whites, despite the racial

58 Nellie Y. McKay, "Zora Neale Hurston." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (2006): n. pag. Print.

59 Valerie Boyd. "Zora Neale Hurston: The Howard University Years." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 39 (2003): 104-08. [JSTOR]. Web. 7 Feb. 2017.

60 Ibid.

61 Ibid.

62 Ibid.

63 Nellie Y. McKay, "Zora Neale Hurston." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (2006): n. pag. Print. !20 hierarchy that still existed, were infatuated with the movement.64 Hurston reminisced on her move to New York saying, “I had $1.50, no job, no friends, and a lot of hope.”65 However, having so little did not discourage Hurston. She quickly joined the emerging group of African

American intellectuals who were focused on bringing black arts, music and literature further into mainstream society.66 The Harlem Renaissance provided a setting where new ideas were

flourishing more freely.67 Hurston wisely took advantage of being in New York at this time and was able to work alongside several stars of the Harlem Renaissance.

Beginning in 1925, Hurston continued her education at Barnard College studying cultural anthropology.68 It was during her time at Barnard that she studied under acclaimed anthropologist Franz Boas, whom Hurston affectionately called, “Papa Franz.”69 Boas made the perfect mentor for Hurston. First, his research focused largely on disproving the idea that African

Americans were somehow an intellectually inferior race.70 One of Boas’ main arguments for this idea was that “mental aptitude was…a product of the environment or the cultural upbringing of the particular individual.”71 This largely coincided with Hurston’s ideas on education—

64 Nellie Y. McKay, "Zora Neale Hurston." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (2006): n. pag. Print.

65 "Dedication: Zora Neale Hurston." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 27 (2000): 1. JSTOR. Web. 8 Feb. 2017.

66 David Levering Lewis, "The Intellectual Luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 7 (1995): 68-69. [JSTOR]. Web. 8 Feb. 2017.

67 Ibid.

68 Pamela Kester-Shelton, "Zora Neale Hurston." Feminist Writers (1996): Web. 17 Jan. 2017.

69 "Papa Franz Was Zora Neale Hurston's Academic Mentor." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 18 (1997): 109. Web. 8 Feb. 2017.

70 Ibid.

71 "Papa Franz Was Zora Neale Hurston's Academic Mentor." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 18 (1997): 109. Web. 8 Feb. 2017. !21

Eatonville’s environment and her cultural upbringing was unique, inspiring her educational pursuit. Second, the great black philosopher W.E.B. Du Bois, who also found encouragement from Boas, remembers him stating at a commencement, “You need not be ashamed of your

African past”.72 The idea of being proud of one’s African American heritage was central to

Hurston’s life work and is yet another example of how the mentor-mentee relationship between

Boas and Hurston was a perfect one because it validated Hurston’s preexisting beliefs. During her time at Barnard, Hurston completed fieldwork for Boas. In exchange, he helped to embolden

Hurston to eventually travel south to gather Negro folklore, which would become the basis for much of her body of work.73

In New York, Hurston was becoming a prominent literary figure of the Harlem

Renaissance. She published multiple stories, a play, and even organized an African-American literary magazine entitled Fire! in collaboration with Langston Hughes.74 It was in February of

1927, while still enrolled at Barnard, that Hurston made her way back down South to Florida to collect folklore.75 Hurston would later remark that Florida was a “frontier” for the collection of folklore that needed to be explored and documented.76 However, Hurston needed funds to

finance her to travel to the South. She had her first meeting with Mrs. Rufus Osgood Mason in

72 "Papa Franz Was Zora Neale Hurston's Academic Mentor." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 18 (1997): 109. Web. 8 Feb. 2017.

73 Pamela Kester-Shelton, "Zora Neale Hurston." Feminist Writers (1996): Web. 17 Jan. 2017.

74 The Estate of Zora Neale Hurston. "The Life of Zora Neale Hurston." The Official Website of Zora Neale Hurston. N.p., 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

75 Ibid.

76 David A. Taylor, Soul of a People: The WPA Writer's Project Uncovers Depression America. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2009. Print. Page 161. !22

September of 1927.77 Mrs. Mason was a renowned benefactor of the arts and supported many

African American artists and writers throughout the Harlem Renaissance.78 Three months after

Hurston’s initial meeting with Osgood Mason, she signed a contract with the patron, which allowed her to continue her research in the South after graduation from Barnard.79.

Hurston graduated from Barnard College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1928, and subsequently made history—she was the first African American to graduate from the school.80

Hurston’s time in New York and at Barnard was crucial for her development as a writer and researcher. She wrote to a friend in a letter once explaining that she was “received quite well” at

Barnard despite her race and seemed to enjoy her time there.81 White intellectuals were becoming increasingly more absorbed in rural black language from an anthropological standpoint—this laid the foundation for Hurston’s work to be well received during the Harlem

Renaissance.82 Additionally, the relationship she formed with Franz Boas helped her to develop a perspective that was unique among black writers of her time.83 Finally, the time spent among

77 The Estate of Zora Neale Hurston. "The Life of Zora Neale Hurston." The Official Website of Zora Neale Hurston. N.p., 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

78 "Charlotte Osgood Mason." Yale University Library. Accessed March 29, 2017. http://brbl- archive.library.yale.edu/exhibitions/awia/gallery/mason.html.

79 The Estate of Zora Neale Hurston. "The Life of Zora Neale Hurston." The Official Website of Zora Neale Hurston. N.p., 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

80"Zora Neale Hurston ’28." Barnard Archives And Special Collections. August 13, 2013. Accessed April 05, 2017. https://barnardarchives.wordpress.com/2005/08/13/zora-neale-hurston-28/.

81 Zora Neale Hurston to Connie Sheen, Jan. 5, Zora Neale Hurston Papers, Special Collections, University of Florida.

82 Andrew Delbanco, "The Political Incorrectness of Zora Neale Hurston." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, no. 18 (1997): 103. Accessed November 08, 2016.

83 Nellie Y. McKay, "Zora Neale Hurston." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (2006): n. pag. Print. !23 other intellectuals of the Harlem Renaissance gave her a new confidence. This confidence would follow her into her work specifically on the Federal Writers’ Project.

After graduating from Barnard College, Hurston returned to Florida to collect folklore, thanks to the financial backing of Mrs. Rufus Osgood Mason. She worked on these folklore collection efforts from 1929-1931, traveling throughout the South, specifically in Florida and

Alabama.84 Hurston loved this type of work, surrounding herself with people, listening to their stories, laughing and talking. She once said, “Folklore is the arts of the people before they find out that there is any such thing as art, and they make it out of whatever they find at hand.”85

Hurston acknowledged that art went well beyond European standards and her work demonstrated this idea. She had a special way of relating to people and in turn, they would share their narratives, songs, and lives with her. The communication skills acquired through her travels on the roads of the South in her Chevrolet nicknamed “Sassie Susie” with her pearl handled revolver, would be invaluable assets when it came to her work on the Federal Writers’ Project.86

Hurston began working towards a Ph.D. at Columbia University in anthropology in

January of 1935, with the financial backing of a Rosenwald Fellowship.87 Months later she took a job with the Federal Theatre Project in New York City. She was hired as a drama coach for the

84 Nellie Y. McKay, "Zora Neale Hurston." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (2006): n. pag. Print.

85 Florence Edwards Borders, and Zora Neale Hurston. "Zora Neale Hurston: Hidden Woman [Including a Letter from Zora Neale Hurston to Countee Cullen]." no. 6 (1979): 89. JSTOR.

86 Andrew Delbanco, "The Political Incorrectness of Zora Neale Hurston." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, no. 18 (1997): 103. Accessed November 08, 2016.

87 The Estate of Zora Neale Hurston. "The Life of Zora Neale Hurston." The Official Website of Zora Neale Hurston. N.p., 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. !24

“Negro Unit” with a salary of $23.66 per week.88 This salary was on par with other members of the project. Critically acclaimed playwright Arthur Miller recalls in his autobiography that he received a salary of $23 a week for his work on that very same project as a white man.89 Hurston wrote a play while working with the unit and worked on the production of another entitled Walk

Together Chillun!.90 She wrote to E.O. Grover saying “I am on this Federal Negro Theatre project and I have been called upon to write a play within a week and believe it or not, I did it and it got accepted.”91 She goes on to discuss how much she missed Florida, but seemed in good spirits regardless. Hurston worked on the Federal Theatre Project from October 1935 to March

1936.

Hurston left the FTP in order to accept a prestigious Guggenheim fellowship.92 The first

African American woman to ever receive this fellowship, Hurston was overjoyed and humbled by the honor.93 In order to be a contestant for the fellowship, Hurston had to submit letters of recommendation. Both Carl Van Vechten and Fannie Hurst, her former employer, wrote letters for her. Van Vechten wrote in his letter of recommendation, “She has an amazing talent, perhaps even genius, for the collection, selection, and creative application of folk material.”94 This is yet

88 Deborah G. Plant, Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Spirit. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Pub., 2011. Print. Page 71.

89 Arthur Miller. 1987. Timebends: A Life. 1st trade ed. New York: Grove Press.

90 Deborah G. Plant, Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Spirit. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Pub., 2011. Print. Page 71.

91 Zora Neale Hurston to E.O. Grover, Dec. 29, 1935, Zora Hurston Papers, Special Collections, University of Florida.

92 Deborah G. Plant, Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Spirit. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Pub., 2011. Print. Page 71.

93 Pamela Kester-Shelton, "Zora Neale Hurston." Feminist Writers (1996): Web. 17 Jan. 2017.

94 Deborah G. Plant Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Spirit. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Pub., 2011. Print. Page 74. !25 another example of the way her peers and mentors alike respected Hurston and her work as she made a name for herself.

Hurston conducted international research, traveling to Haiti and Jamaica’s folk regions with financial support of the fellowship. Over seven weeks in Haiti, she wrote what would become arguably her best and most famous work, Their Eyes Were Watching God.95 However, before traveling abroad, Hurston traveled through parts of the South with Alan Lomax. Lomax, the son of a well-known folklorist, was a budding folklorist and student at the University of

Texas himself.96 When Alan Lomax first came across Hurston’s work, he was immediately captivated by this enigmatic woman.97 When the two first met sometime in 1935, Lomax recalls

“I was entranced and dazzled and almost worshipful.”98 He had a deep understanding of what a special talent she was. Hurston also served as an example to him of what was possible in the world of folklore.99 In June 1935, Lomax and Hurston, along with Elizabeth Barnicle, a mutual friend, began their travels in the Southeast collecting folklore. During these trips, Hurston would serve as an inside source.100 With Hurston as their guide, the trio experienced many events that the white team members would not have been privy to without someone as spirited as Hurston at the helm. For example, they stayed in black communities and shared living quarters, because

95 David A. Taylor, and Floridiana Collection. 2009. Soul of a People: The WPA Writer's Project Uncovers Depression America. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Page 170.

96 John F. Szwed, Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World. New York: Viking Penguin, 2010.

97 Ibid, 77-78.

98 John F. Szwed, Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World. New York: Viking Penguin, 2010.

99 Ibid, 79.

100 John F. Szwed, Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World. New York: Viking Penguin, 2010. !26

Hurston believed that this would help the group achieve more in terms of folklore collection.101

This was incredibly rare, seeing as it was the height of Jim Crow, and many warned the trio against embarking on such a journey for fear of racially motivated repercussions. This experience was the complete antithesis of what she would face working with Kennedy on the

FWP.

Upon completing her international folk collection efforts and work with Lomax and

Barnicle, Hurston returned to her hometown of Eatonville to work on editing her Tell My Horse manuscript.102 At this time the Florida chapter of the Federal Writers’ Project was struggling with producing relevant content. The director of the project, Henry Alsberg, caught wind of the fact that Hurston was just around the corner from the Florida Federal Writer’s Project headquarters in

Jacksonville. He approached her about working on the project, but she declined. However, months later, as Hurston’s finances were undoubtedly getting tighter, she ended up taking the position on the project. This is where she first met and worked with Stetson Kennedy.

Stetson Kennedy

William Stetson Kennedy was born on October 5, 1916 to parents George Wallace and

Willye Kennedy in Jacksonville, Florida. His mother was a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and wrote papers on behalf of the organization and his grandfather was a

Confederate officer.103 His father was a business owner and their family lived a very comfortable

101 Ibid, 80.

102 Zora Neale Hurston, and Carla Kaplan. Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters. 1st Anchor books ed. New York (2002-2003): Anchor Books. Page 179.

103"Stetson Kennedy." Encyclopedia of World Biography. N.p., 8 July 2016. Web. 11 Feb. 2017. !27 lifestyle.104 Growing up in Jacksonville, Kennedy worked for his father’s furniture store as a teenager. Young Kennedy would go around collecting money from his father’s clients. The furniture store worked on a weekly payment schedule so people of all financial backgrounds were able to purchase items. It was during this time that Kennedy was first exposed to racial and socioeconomic differences in his own community.105 Additionally, this was Kennedy’s first unofficial experience with folklore collection.106 On the days he was on the road collecting money for his father, Kennedy would stop to listen to stories people would share with him. Once he returned home he would jot down these accounts—an early foreshadowing of the work he would later do on the FWP.107 Kennedy would later remark that this experience helped to shape his life’s course.108

Kennedy began his college education at the University of Florida in 1936, after graduating with from Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, Florida.109 He only attended the institution for a year before dropping out. However, while still enrolled, he took a journalism class taught by Pulitzer Prize winning author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.110 Kennedy believed that the university and its students were relatively oblivious to what was going on in the world and felt that he could make a bigger impact by going out and becoming active in the

104 Ibid.

105 "Stetson Kennedy." Biography in Context [Gale]. N.p., 1 Feb. 2012. Web. 8 Feb. 2017.

106 "Stetson Kennedy." Encyclopedia of World Biography. N.p., 8 July 2016. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.

107 Ibid.

108 "Stetson Kennedy." Biography in Context [Gale]. N.p., 1 Feb. 2012. Web. 8 Feb. 2017.

109 "Stetson Kennedy." Encyclopedia of World Biography. N.p., 8 July 2016. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.

110 Ibid. !28 community.111 Therefore, Kennedy moved to Key West and completed folklore research there before being hired by the Florida chapter of the Federal Writers’ Project. It was in Key West that he met and subsequently married Edith Ogden, a Cuban immigrant and Kennedy’s first of several wives.112 Most historians agree that his number of wives is around seven, however when asked in a 2006 interview exactly how many women he was married to, Kennedy stated, “I’ll leave it up to the historians to figure out how many times I’ve been married. In the past when people have asked me that question, my response has always been ‘not nearly enough’.”113 This quote calls into question how much respect Kennedy had for women and how seriously he took them.

At the young age of 20, Kennedy began work with the Federal Writers’ Project in the

Florida Keys. He had very little post-secondary education and his real world folk collection experience was minimal. He was hired as a “junior interviewer,” the same title which was given to Hurston. Almost immediately however, Kennedy was named the head of the Folklore, Ethnic

Studies, and Oral History Unit of the project and moved back to his native Jacksonville where the state office of the FWP was located.114 Kennedy was paid $75 a month in this position.115 His duties in this job varied greatly from those as a “junior interviewer.“ He worked mainly as an editor, taking work handed in by field workers and adapting it into the more polished information that comprised the chapters of the Florida guide.116

111 "Stetson Kennedy." Encyclopedia of World Biography. N.p., 8 July 2016. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.

112"Stetson Kennedy." Encyclopedia of World Biography. N.p., 8 July 2016. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.

113 Charlie Patton. "Stetson Kennedy Dies." St. Augustine Record. August 30, 2011. Accessed March 29, 2017. http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2011-08-28/stetson-kennedy-dies.

114 "Stetson Kennedy." Encyclopedia of World Biography. N.p., 8 July 2016. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.

115 James A. Findlay, and Margaret Bing. "Touring Florida through the Federal Writers' Project." The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 23 (1998): 288. Web. 17 Jan. 2017. Page 291.

116 Ibid, 293. !29

After working together on the Federal Writer’s Project, Kennedy and Hurston went their separate ways. Hurston would go on to take a variety of different jobs while continuing to write

—she published her autobiography Dust Tracks on a Road in November 1942 and a multitude of other pieces for local publications.117 Kennedy would find fame after infiltrating the Ku Klux

Klan, one of the most infamous hate groups in United States’ history and subsequently publishing a book on his findings entitled The Klan Unmasked in 1954.118 He continued living a life of activism and advocacy on behalf of the marginalized in society until the day he died, while publishing a few books on folklore along the way.119 This is how the classical part of this narrative ends. However, as is often the case with history, there is more to this story than meets the eye.

117 The Estate of Zora Neale Hurston. "The Life of Zora Neale Hurston." The Official Website of Zora Neale Hurston. N.p., 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

118 "Stetson Kennedy." Biography in Context [Gale]. N.p., 1 Feb. 2012. Web. 8 Feb. 2017.

119 Ibid. !30

Chapter 3: Unmasking the Florida Federal Writers’ Project

Virtually every part of the system which brought Hurston to the Florida chapter of the

FWP was characterized by racist ideologies and sentiments. This idea is exemplified when taking a closer look at the New Deal as an inherently racist piece of legislation. Although the Federal

One project of the New Deal worked to employ a marginalized group of artists, it deliberately worked to discriminate against another marginalized group—African Americans. African

American agricultural and domestic employees were excluded from much of the federal relief legislation. Southern Democrats purposefully designed parts of the New Deal to ensure that they remained oppressed. This was not only done to reinforce and preserve the Jim Crow South, but also to ensure that the southern political economy continued to flourish and work in favor of whites. And it was done without explicitly racist language. Legal scholar Juan F. Perea supports this point, arguing, “Since most southern blacks were employed as agricultural and domestic laborers, that occupational classification became an ostensibly race-neutral way to exclude blacks by proxy.”120 Legislators found a technicality in the relief effort legislation to keep African

Americans oppressed and financially excluded from New Deal support.

President Franklin Roosevelt sold out his African American base in exchange for support from Southern Democrats, passing the New Deal legislation knowing how inherently racist it

120 Juan F. Perea, "The Echoes of Slavery: Recognizing the Racist Origins of the Agricultural and Domestic Worker Exclusion from the National Labor Relations Act." Ohio State Law Journal 72. Accessed March 18, 2017. http:// moritzlaw.osu.edu/students/groups/oslj/files/2012/04/72.1.perea_.pdf. !31 was. Not only that, but to secure the passage of his New Deal legislation, Roosevelt refused to support an anti-lynching bill proposed by the National Association for the Advancement of

Colored People (NAACP). His fear was that in supporting this legislation, powerful Southern politicians would react negatively and obstruct his New Deal initiative.121 Sections of the New

Deal quite intentionally excluded African Americans, including but not limited to: the National

Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), the establishment of the Agricultural Adjustment

Administration (AAA) and the Social Security Act.122 For example, the NIRA refused equal wages to blacks. This again worked by manipulating language to exclude African Americans from legislation. Employers easily avoided codes put forth to ensure fair and equal wages.

Similarly, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, employing a corrupt set of administrators, led to a loss of jobs for indigent African American farmers. Leadership of the AAA worked diligently on both federal and local levels to guarantee New Deal legislation would not aid blacks.123 Lastly, the Social Security Act excluded agricultural and domestic workers, which meant the majority of African Americans in the South could not benefit from this largely beneficial piece of legislation.124 Ira De A. Reid explained New Deal corruption best, stating “So far as the Negroes in the South are concerned the AAA [and other New Deal Agencies] might as well be administered by the Ku Klux Klan.”125 While from the outset, the New Deal relieved the

121 Ibid.

122 Juan F. Perea, "The Echoes of Slavery: Recognizing the Racist Origins of the Agricultural and Domestic Worker Exclusion from the National Labor Relations Act." Ohio State Law Journal 72. Accessed March 18, 2017. http:// moritzlaw.osu.edu/students/groups/oslj/files/2012/04/72.1.perea_.pdf.

123 Ibid.

124 Ibid.

125 Ibid, 107. !32 majority of Americans reeling from the Great Depression, it also forced an entire group of individuals further into despair.

With the New Deal looming on the horizon, whites worried that the legislation might help bring African Americans one step closer to equality. In 1937 Representative James Mark Wilcox of Florida echoed the sentiments of most Southern politicians stating, “You cannot put the Negro and the white man on the same basis and get away with it.”126 In taking a closer look at Hurston’s experience on the Federal Writer’s Project, we see this sentiment in practice. This begins largely with the hiring procedure the Florida chapter of the FWP exercised, especially in the case of

Hurston. Hurston had the most publication experience out of any of the Florida employees of the

FWP.127 However, despite this fact, she was hired to fill a relief position with the title of “junior interviewer“ rather than a supervisory position as any other writer of her caliber would have been assigned.128 For example, the work Kennedy was doing in his supervisory editorial position mirrored what Hurston should have been given the opportunity to complete. However, in the white-ruled South this job was given to a 21-year-old white, privileged male with little experience in the face of an African American woman who had devoted her life’s work to just this.

Not only was Hurston given an inadequate title, but this racial discrimination also affected her financially. She was offered $67.50 a month in this position, far less than what most people on the project with even half of her experience were being paid, and more notably, less

126 Ibid, 109-110.

127 "Writer Finds Zora Neale Hurston's Florida." NPR. April 19, 2010. Accessed March 29, 2017. http:// www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126109921.

128 Zora Neale Hurston, Pamela Bordelon, and Floridiana Collection. 1999. Go Gator and Muddy the Water: Writings. 1st ed. New York: W W. Norton. Page 14. !33 than Kennedy.129 Kennedy attributes this pay gap to the fact that Hurston lived in Eatonville while she worked on the FWP, stating “...according to the WPA wage scale it cost $4 per month less to live in Zora’s all-black hometown of Eatonville than it did in Jacksonville.“130 The legitimacy of this justification is questionable and could instead be racist practices hiding behind the guise of a “wage scale.“ The Federal Writer’s Project did not require prospective employees to have any experience in the field—opposite some of the other Federal One projects.131

Therefore, Hurston was working for a project in a relief position where her skills and experience were far superior to her colleagues, yet was being paid much less. The oversight of the FWP in not hiring Hurston for an editorial position negatively impacted her both financially and personally. In order to be hired in a relief capacity, “Hurston had to prove her indigence by being investigated by a certification worker who visited her home and asked a number of questions about her finances.“132 Only after it was determined by said certification worker that Hurston had no real means was she able to be put on the list from which the FWP chose its employees.

Further examination of Corse, the director of the Florida FWP chapter, reveals another way the project worked to subdue Hurston. According to her Florida Women’s Hall of Fame profile on the Florida Commission on the Status of Women’s website, Carita Dogget Corse

“vigorously advocated African-American participation in the collection and writing of Florida

129 Ibid.

130 Stetson Kennedy. A Florida Treasure Hunt. Folklife Center News 22 (4): Page 6.

131 Zora Neale Hurston, Pamela Bordelon, and Floridiana Collection. 1999. Go Gator and Muddy the Water: Writings. 1st ed. New York: W W. Norton. Page 15.

132 Zora Neale Hurston, Pamela Bordelon, and Floridiana Collection. 1999. Go Gator and Muddy the Water: Writings. 1st ed. New York: W W. Norton. Page 15. !34

History.”133 However, this description of Corse may indeed be unfounded. Pamela Bordelon, who compiled many of Hurston’s previously unpublished Federal Writer’s Project works in the book Go Gator and Muddy the Water, reveals that even upon orders from FWP national director

Henry Alsberg to name Hurston the head editor of The Florida Negro, Corse refused to do so.134

This promotion Alsberg suggested came with a salary increase to $150 a month, which was standard for employees in supervisory positions like editor.135 Rather than move Hurston to this position, and grant her the raise that was rightfully hers, Corse decided to implement a “travel allowance” of $75 a month for Hurston, bringing her monthly salary to $142.50, just a few dollars below what Alsberg had directed.136 Although this raised her salary to something much more standard for a professional of her caliber, Hurston was still left with the typical FWP relief position that she began with, far below her capabilities. This evidence suggests that Corse worked to prevent Hurston from working at the same level as whites on the project.137

Although Corse purposefully denied Hurston a proper title and salary, she still needed

Hurston on the project both for its reputation and contributions. In Corse’s initial letter to

Alsberg, she states: “I believe that Zora can assist the expedition in getting excellent and original recordings in the State. If possible, she should accompany the expedition on its trip through

133"Carita Doggett Corse." Florida Commission on the Status of Women. Accessed December 1, 2016. http:// fcsw.net/dt_team/carita-doggett-corse/.

134 Zora Neale Hurston, Pamela Bordelon, and Floridiana Collection. 1999. Go Gator and Muddy the Water: Writings. 1st ed. New York: W W. Norton. Page 16.

135 Ibid.

136 Ibid.

137 Appropriately, Corse became a United Daughter of the Confederacy at the end of 1939. Bordelon, Pamela G. Bordelon, The Federal Writers' Project's Mirror to America: The Florida Reflection. PhD diss., Louisiana State University, 1991. !35

Florida, as she has an intimate knowledge of folk song and folklore sources in the State.”138 Dr.

Corse knew Hurston had worked with Alan Lomax, a renowned folklorist and Assistant in

Charge of the Archive of American Folksong in the Library of Congress, collecting folksongs for the library prior to approaching her to work on the Federal Writers’ Project.139 This experience had taught Hurston how to use the recording machine that was critical to the folk collection efforts of the Federal Writers’ Project, but one that few others had knowledge of.140 She needed

Hurston to bolster her chapter of the Federal Writer’s Project more than anything else.

While Dr. Corse did have to make a case for Hurston and why she would be a good addition to the project, their relationship remained fraught with racial tension. From the outside

Corse and Hurston appeared to be two women who understood what it was like to be pioneers in their fields. Corse was one of the only female directors of an FWP chapter, and Hurston had established herself as one of the most predominant literary figures of her time. However, Corse was not blind to Jim Crow and its effects and Hurston astutely recognized this. Hurston worked best in the peace and quiet of her home in Eatonville and wanted to continue to do so even as her work with the FWP began. This enabled her to work on her manuscript from home and send occasional pieces to the Jacksonville office. Much of what she sent to the office was recycled material that she had already written. However, Kennedy described the pieces saying “each and every one was priceless, and we hastened to sprinkle them through the Florida Guide manuscript

138 Zora Neale Hurston. Proposed Recording Expedition into the Floridas. May, 1939. Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/flwpa000213/. (accessed 8 November 2016.)

139 "Zora Neale Hurston: Three Letters to Alan Lomax." Zora Neale Hurston. Accessed November 12, 2016. http:// www.culturalequity.org/currents/ce_currents_zhn_letters.php.

140"Zora Neale Hurston, the WPA in Florida, and the Cross City Turpentine Camp." A Reference Guide to Florida Folklore. Accessed October 10, 2016. !36 for flavoring.”141 Hurston also playing into the racial politics of the time, established herself as

Corse’s “pet darkey.”142 In a letter to Corse in December of 1938 regarding her travels, Hurston said, “You might have been a little proud of your pet darkey. Yes I know that I belong to you.“143

She used Corse’s superior mindset to her own benefit, realizing that if she bowed down to Corse as she expected her to, she would have increased freedom. She once wrote “Sometimes I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves of my company? It is beyond me.”144 Hurston knew who she was and had confidence in that, knowing that people’s perceptions of her did not define her. She channeled this confidence during her time on the FWP, intimating several of her white counterparts—

Kennedy and Corse included.

Stetson Kennedy’s role on the FWP and his relationship with Hurston provides insight into the flaws of both the Florida chapter and his own character. One of the reasons historians

find Stetson Kennedy such an impressive figure is because of his willingness to work with an

African American woman and his travels with her through the state of Florida. However, no one has asked whether Kennedy might just have needed Hurston to evolve into a more well- established writer with more credibility than what two years of undergraduate education he had achieved prior to meeting her. Furthermore, most sources state that Kennedy and Hurston traveled “together” throughout the state of Florida working on this guide series. However, this

141State Library and Archives of Florida. "Zora Neale Hurston, the WPA in Florida, and the Cross City Turpentine Camp." Florida Memory. Accessed March 29, 2017. https://www.floridamemory.com/onlineclassroom/zora_hurston/ documents/stetsonkennedy/.

142 Zora Neale Hurston to Dr. Carita Corse, Dec. 3, 1938, Zora Hurston Papers, Special Collections, University of Florida.

143 Ibid.

144 David A. Taylor, Soul of a People: The WPA Writer's Project Uncovers Depression America. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2009. Print. Page 172. !37 statement is undoubtedly false.145 Contrary to these sources, they took two trips “together,” one to the Cross City turpentine camps and one to the Clara White Mission in Jacksonville,

Florida.146 In 1990, Stetson Kennedy wrote an introduction to A Reference Guide to Florida

Folklore from the Federal WPA Deposited in the Florida Folklife Archives.147 In it, Kennedy states “I never heard any discussion which so much as considered sending out an "inter-racial" team…The solution, handed down to me from above, was to send Zora ahead as a sort of "talent scout" to identify informants.”148 This statement comes from Kennedy unprompted from

Kennedy, which begs the question as to why Kennedy felt the need to defend himself.

The relationship between Hurston and Kennedy becomes especially convoluted when comparing it to the relationship between Hurston and Lomax, which formed years before

Kennedy even met Hurston. The relationship between Hurston and Lomax was one of much more mutual respect and understanding than that of Kennedy and Hurston. When Lomax and

Barnicle traveled with Hurston, not only did they all stay in the same living quarters in black communities, but they also willingly participated in one of Hurston’s unusual requests. While headed towards Eatonville, Florida to collect more folklore, Hurston suggested that Lomax and

145Legend has it that Kennedy traveled in the same car as Hurston with the recording machine in the front seat. However, this story can be disproved by a quote from Kennedy himself. In a journal article written by Kennedy he explains “It being unthinkable in those days for a white and black to travel together, Dr. Corse hit upon the scheme of sending Zora ahead as an advance scout to seek and find people with folksong repositories; I would follow with the machine and staff photographer Robert Cook. Stetson Kennedy. A Florida Treasure Hunt. Folklife Center News 22 (4): 3-8.

146"Stetson Kennedy, Zora Neale Hurston and Alan Lomax NPR - The Sound of 1930s Florida Folklife." Articles on and by Stetson Kennedy. Accessed March 29, 2017. http://www.stetsonkennedy.com/articles/npr_folklife.htm.

147State Library and Archives of Florida. "Zora Neale Hurston, the WPA in Florida, and the Cross City Turpentine Camp." Florida Memory. Accessed March 29, 2017. https://www.floridamemory.com/onlineclassroom/zora_hurston/ documents/stetsonkennedy/#narratives.

148State Library and Archives of Florida. "Zora Neale Hurston, the WPA in Florida, and the Cross City Turpentine Camp." Florida Memory. Accessed March 29, 2017. https://www.floridamemory.com/onlineclassroom/zora_hurston/ documents/stetsonkennedy/#narratives. !38

Barnicle paint their faces and hands with walnut oil to darken their skin. This way, she argued, they would not be “crossing all of the social lines of the South.”149Lomax initially balked at the idea, figuring that blacks in the community would quickly catch on, but Hurston insisted and the two followed suit. The county sheriff, however, caught onto the trio’s plan and arrested Lomax for his role in the incident. As Lomax recalls, Hurston quickly “sweet-talked” her way out of it.

The district attorney released Lomax and the trio carried on their way.150 For an African

American woman to be able to negotiate with state officials at this time was unheard of, yet she successfully made the case for Lomax.

This stark difference between the relationships Hurston had with Kennedy and Lomax is evidenced by Figure 3, which includes two pictures of Hurston—one taken by Kennedy and one by Lomax.

149 John F. Szwed, 2010. Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World. New York: Viking Penguin. Page 77.

150 Ibid, 81. !39

Figure 3: Alan Lomax, Zora Neale Hurston, 1935 photograph versus Stetson Kennedy, Zora Neale Hurston Cross City, 1939 photograph.

The left photograph was taken in 1935 in Hurston’s hometown of Eatonville, Florida by Alan

Lomax. The right photograph was taken four years later in 1939 in Cross City, Florida by Stetson

Kennedy. While both pictures are considered “candid,” Hurston’s emotions vary greatly between the two pictures. Kennedy said of the photo he took, “She was…there [in Cross Creek] when we arrived, sitting on the porch of a turpentiner’s shack, rocking and smoking. I couldn’t resist taking a candid shot.”151 Kennedy stumbled across Hurston on the porch of this shack when he arrived because she was not permitted to travel with him. Kennedy cited Jim Crow laws as the reason for this. However, in the picture on the left taken by Lomax, Hurston looks happy, even exuberant.

151 Zora Neale Hurston and Carla Kaplan. Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters. 1st Anchor books ed. New York: Anchor Books. Page 181. !40

The final element that reveals the systematic repression of Hurston on the FWP is her involvement with the publication of The Florida Negro. Alsberg, the director of the Federal

Writer’s Project, instituted this “Negro Unit“ to produce The Florida Negro and, to preserve an

African American legacy within the FWP.152 Despite this stated objective, there was very little racial integration in the Florida office. Blacks and whites did not work side by side in the field or in the office. Stetson Kennedy recalls, “In all my years in the state office, I do not recall there ever being editorial conferences in which blacks participated. Manuscripts from the Negro Unit came to us by mail or messenger, and every two weeks they sent someone for their paychecks.”153 The same project that assigned writers to interview ex-slaves about the adversity they faced also employed racist, Jim Crow practices in its offices. The ten or so employees on the

“Negro Unit” worked in an office at the Clara White Mission in Jacksonville, a soup kitchen— completely separate from the Jacksonville where all of the white FWP employees worked.154

Furthermore, editors worked hard to make sure that The Florida Negro included pieces that reflected the way they wanted the race narrative of Florida to be told. For example, editors would cut pieces deemed “…far too controversial for inclusion in a government sponsored work.”155 This trend was headed by Corse. Scholar Pamela Bordelon argues, “Carita Corse and other southern directors did not want the rest of the nation to know the more hideous side of their

152 Gary W. McDonogh, Floridiana Collection, and Federal Writers' Project. 1993. The Florida Negro: A Federal Writers' Project Legacy. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Page IX.

153State Library and Archives of Florida. "Zora Neale Hurston, the WPA in Florida, and the Cross City Turpentine Camp." Florida Memory. Accessed March 29, 2017. https://www.floridamemory.com/onlineclassroom/zora_hurston/ documents/stetsonkennedy/#narratives.

154 David A.Taylor, Soul of a People: The WPA Writer's Project Uncovers Depression America. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2009. Print. Page 170.

155 Pamela G. Bordelon, "The Federal Writers' Project's Mirror to America: The Florida Reflection." (1991). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 5168. http://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/51, Page 162. !41 states’ history.”156 To achieve this goal of including only palatable information in The Florida

Negro, Corse and other state editors decided that the publication should follow a certain trend— progress in African American life. They insisted upon keeping stories which painted this picture

—choosing to ignore stories of racial tension that still existed in Florida, specifically in Corse’s beloved Florida chapter.157 On the other hand, Hurston wanted her work to accurately reflect the lives of Florida’s African American population without sparing any details. This is where

Hurston’s goals did not line up with the agenda of the editors.

Corse’s refusal to hire Hurston in a supervisory position had additional effects on The

Florida Negro publication. Hurston was not able to edit the publication which she was initially hired specifically to do. However, Kennedy remembers this oversight by Corse in a different way, writing “There was much ado in Washington and Jacksonville upon the hiring of Zora to the effect that she would edit The Florida Negro for publication. A copy of the manuscript was placed in her hands, but all of Zora's talents and experiences were in the realm of writing, not editing.”158It is safe to argue that Alsberg, the director of the Federal Writer’s Project, disagreed with Kennedy’s opinion, seeing as he specifically asked for Hurston to begin editing The Florida

Negro. 159

156Ibid, 163.

157 Pamela G. Bordelon, "The Federal Writers' Project's Mirror to America: The Florida Reflection." (1991). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 5168. http://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/51, Page 162.

158State Library and Archives of Florida. "Zora Neale Hurston, the WPA in Florida, and the Cross City Turpentine Camp." Florida Memory. Accessed March 29, 2017. https://www.floridamemory.com/onlineclassroom/zora_hurston/ documents/stetsonkennedy/#narratives.

159 Zora Neale Hurston, Pamela Bordelon, and Floridiana Collection. 1999. Go Gator and Muddy the Water: Writings. 1st ed. New York: W W. Norton. Page 16. !42

Chapter 4: Hurston vs. Racial Discrimination

The FWP initially hired Hurston because the Florida chapter needed help and who better to employ than a native Floridian like herself with so much writing and folklore collection experience. However, in the final edit of The Florida Negro, none of Hurston’s works were included—despite the fact that she was hired to bolster a floundering FWP chapter with her expertise. Corse and Kennedy excluding Hurston’s works from the publication is suspicious. It is hard to believe that they were excluded because they were not up to the publication’s standards.

In fact, evidence points to the fact that the editors deliberately cut Hurston’s work from the publication.160 This was Florida, a state still largely controlled by Jim Crow. The fact that the

Florida chapter of the FWP’s most valuable asset was an African American woman could not have sat well with the white privileged editors.

All of this evidence points to the fact that Hurston’s time on the FWP was dominated by racist ideas and discriminatory practices. It did not matter to Corse and Kennedy that Hurston had more experience in the field than the two of them combined. Hurston never once mentions her time on the project. This has led many scholars to suggest that she was ashamed by this chapter of her life. Most scholars familiar with the topic attribute this to the fact that she was embarrassed at having to accept federal aid. Reporter Rebecca Bengal of the Washington Post

160 Pamela G. Bordelon, "The Federal Writers' Project's Mirror to America: The Florida Reflection." (1991). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 5168. http://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/51, Page 163. !43 explains, “Some writers…Hurston among them…saw the WPA relief work as akin to accepting welfare. Hurston would tell the niece who shared her Eatonville home that she was going to New

York for a few days rather than admit she was attending meetings at the WPA headquarters in

Jacksonville.”161 While this probably did contribute in some way to her embarrassment, I believe that the issue for Hurston was much larger than that.

To start, this was not the first time Hurston had accepted federal aid nor was this the first time she had even worked for a Federal One project. When she worked on the Federal Theatre

Project just two years prior, Hurston had no problem informing her dear friend and supporter

E.O. Grover of her position on the project. She did not feel the need to lie about her whereabouts or even omit the information in her letter to Grover.162 If she was indeed embarrassed by the

Federal Writer’s Project because it was a form of federal aid, it would be logical to assume this argument would have been consistent across both the Federal Theatre Project and the Federal

Writer’s Project, seeing as they were both New Deal arts projects.

To analyze what was really at the heart of Hurston’s discomfort on the FWP, it is important to fully understand exactly what she accomplished and experienced prior to joining.

There were over 200 writers on the FWP payroll and the vast majority were unknown, small- town writers. As a matter of fact, most writers had to remain anonymous throughout their time on the project to ensure the publication was objective.163 However, Hurston did not fit this profile.

161 Rebecca Bengal, "Following the Dust Tracks: Touring Florida through the Eyes of Zora Neale Hurston." The Washington Post. April 18, 2010. Accessed March 29, 2017. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ article/2010/04/09/AR2010040903667.html.

162Zora Neale Hurston to E.O. Grover, Dec. 29, 1935, Zora Hurston Papers, Special Collections, University of Florida.

163 James A. Findlay and Margaret Bing. "Touring Florida through the Federal Writers' Project." The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 23 (1998): 292. !44

Prior to being hired by the FWP, she had already published Mules and Men (1935), won a

Guggenheim fellowship and had become an expert in the collection of folklore both inside and outside the United States.164 She had worked with novelists like Fannie Hurst, anthropologists like Franz Boas, and folklorists like Alan Lomax. However, the FWP job threw her under the supervision of Kennedy. His website states very simply, “While he was with the WPA he oversaw the work of African American writer Hurston, among others.”165 Imagine this under qualified individual overseeing the work of someone who had just earned a Guggenheim

Fellowship. In no way was Stetson Kennedy in charge of Hurston on the Federal Writers’ Project as his legacy may suggest.

Hurston’s unease with the FWP likely stems from her issues with Kennedy. There are no existing letters, at least currently in any archives, from Hurston to Kennedy or from Kennedy to

Hurston.166 This could be due to the fact that they worked together on a daily basis so did not need to write to each other, but Hurston often went off on her own travels to collect material without Kennedy. Stetson frequently mentions Hurston and his work with her, calling Hurston a

“friend” on more than one occasion.167 However, in all of the material and interviews gathered from Hurston, not once does she mention Kennedy or ever having so much as worked with

164Carla Cappetti, and Zora Neale Hurston. "Defending Hurston against Her Legend: Two Previously Unpublished Letters." Universitatsverlag WINTER Gmbh 55, no. 4 (2010). Accessed November 15, 2011.

165 Sean Kennedy, "Stetson Kennedy: Author." Stetson Kennedy - Author, Activist, Folklorist. Accessed March 29, 2017. http://www.stetsonkennedy.com/.

166 "Stetson Kennedy and Zora Neale Hurston." Interview by author. October 3, 2016. I talked to Dr. Cusick in his office at Smathers Library about my project.

167 Paul Ortiz, "Tearing Up the Master's Narrative: Stetson Kennedy and Oral History." Oral History Review 41, no. 2 (2014): 279-89. !45 him.168 For Kennedy, working with an author of Hurston’s caliber was a defining moment in his early career. Prior to joining the Federal Writers’ Project, Kennedy had completed two years of schooling at the University of Florida before dropping out to work with the FWP.169 He is quoted as having said “I guess I invented independent studies. I dropped out.”170 Contrastingly, Hurston had attended Howard University, Barnard College to complete her undergraduate degree, completed two years of research at Columbia University, and published multiple books before coming onto the Federal Writers’ Project.171 Therefore, it is easy to understand why the young writer would want to associate himself with Hurston, regardless of her skin color or sex.

Kennedy acknowledges that the information Hurston provided the Federal Writers’

Project was “priceless” and that Florida writers of the FWP were eager to use her material throughout the Florida Guide publication.172 However, that is the extent of what he attributes to

Hurston. Perhaps this was due to the fact that she was not around that often, but when she was not around she was out collecting material, so it was not as if she was not contributing. On the other hand, Alan Lomax, in reflecting on the trip he and Hurston took through Florida,

“attributed the success of their trip entirely to her contribution.”173 The uniting factor between

168 "Stetson Kennedy and Zora Neale Hurston." Interview by author. October 3, 2016. I talked to Dr. Cusick in his office at Smathers Library about my project.

169 Edward A. Hatfield, "Stetson Kennedy (1916-2011)." History & Archeology. August 14, 2009. Accessed November 08, 2016. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/stetson-kennedy-1916-2011.

170 Paul Ortiz, "VOICES: Stetson Kennedy and the Pursuit of Truth." Facing South. August 30, 2011. Accessed November 12, 2016. https://www.facingsouth.org/2011/08/voices-stetson-kennedy-and-the-pursuit-of-truth.html.

171 Elisabeth Flynn, Caitlin Deasy, and Rachel Ruah. "The Upbringing and Education of Zora Neale Hurston." Project Mosaic. July 12, 2011. Accessed December 1, 2016. http://social.rollins.edu/wpsites/mosaic-hurston/ 2011/07/12/the-upbringing-and-education-of-zora-neale-hurston/.

172“Zora Neale Hurston, the WPA in Florida, and the Cross City Turpentine Camp." A Reference Guide to Florida Folklore. Accessed October 10, 2016.

173 "Zora Neale Hurston: Three Letters to Alan Lomax." Zora Neale Hurston. Accessed November 12, 2016. http:// www.culturalequity.org/currents/ce_currents_zhn_letters.php. !46

Stetson Kennedy and Zora Neale Hurston was their employment as folklorists on the Federal

Writers’ Project in Florida. As folklorists, their jobs were to record the sights and sounds of everyday life. Historians frequently discuss their similarities, and as one Florida Historical

Quarterly article suggests, “Hurston and Kennedy were brilliant folklorists because they were more interested in listening to people than in studying them.”174 The truth of this statement is questionable. Kennedy tells the story of sitting around a campfire at a turpentine camp near Cross

City, Florida after recording songs with Hurston earlier that night. It was here that Kennedy states he remembers “putting on my cap as director of Social-Ethnic Studies and asking questions about such things as peonage and the commissary system.”175 This suggests that

Kennedy was more interested in studying and evaluating subjects, rather than simply listening.

As much as scholars try to compare the goals of Hurston and Kennedy, they were markedly different. Hurston wanted to collect material on the day-to-day lives of voiceless people—the goal of the FWP’s folklore division. Hurston once stated: “Negroes are supposed to write about the Race Problem. I was and am thoroughly sick of the subject. My interest lies in what makes a man or a woman do such-and-so, regardless of his color.”176 This was a statement spoken by a genuine folklorist. On the other hand, Kennedy, whose title on the Federal Writers’

Project was “head of the unit on folklore and oral history”, went on to publish works like The

Klan Unmasked, works that were expository in nature and strayed greatly from folklore. Clearly,

Stetson Kennedy evolved from that young folklorist on the Federal Writers’ Project as his life

174 Paul Ortiz, and Benjamin D. Brotemarkle. "End Notes." The Florida Historical Quarterly 90, no. 2 (Fall 2011): 260. Accessed November 10, 2016.

175“Zora Neale Hurston, the WPA in Florida, and the Cross City Turpentine Camp." A Reference Guide to Florida Folklore. Accessed October 10, 2016.

176 Andrew Delbanco, "The Political Incorrectness of Zora Neale Hurston." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, no. 18 (1997): 108. Accessed November 08, 2016. !47 went on, but it calls into question how invested he truly was in folklore efforts and how much of his work was simply a stepping stone into a more public position.

Furthermore, there are larger questions about Kennedy’s reliability. After his work on the

Federal Writers’ Project, Kennedy went on to infiltrate the Stone Mountain, Georgia chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, part of one of the largest and most violent hate groups in the United States.

His mission was to expose secrets and rituals of the organization. He gained the Klan’s trust by using a deceased uncle’s name, who himself was a former member of the Klan.177 Kennedy took the secret information he obtained from the group and brought it to the Georgia Bureau of

Investigation, the Anti-Defamation League and a reporter from the Washington Post, Drew

Pearson.178 He eventually published his experiences in the book I Rode with the Ku Klux Klan, later republished as The Klan Unmasked in 1954.179 This was widely regarded as some of the most important reporting of its time. However, in more recent years, the truth of Kennedy’s personal account has been called into question. Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt, authors of the book Freakonomics, made this argument in a New York Times article.180 Another author had been interested in the truth of Kennedy’s account before Dubner and Levitt even came across it—discovering that Kennedy’s papers detailed much different happenings than what he wrote in his book.181 Dubner and Levitt state in the New York Times:

“A close examination of Kennedy's archives seems to reveal a recurrent theme: legitimate interviews that he conducted with Klan leaders and sympathizers would

177 "Stetson Kennedy." Encyclopedia of World Biography. N.p., 8 July 2016. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.

178 "Stetson Kennedy." Encyclopedia of World Biography. N.p., 8 July 2016. Web. 11 Feb. 2017.

179 Ibid.

180 Ibid.

181 Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt. "Hoodwinked?" The New York Times. January 08, 2006. Accessed March 29, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/magazine/hoodwinked.html. !48

reappear in "The Klan Unmasked" in different contexts and with different facts. In a similar vein, the archives offer evidence that Kennedy covered public Klan events as a reporter but then recast them in his book as undercover exploits. Kennedy had also amassed a great deal of literature about the Klan and other hate groups that he joined, but his own archives suggest that he joined most of these groups by mail.”182

These revelations beg the question: if Kennedy’s biggest claim to fame was largely fabricated, how trustworthy are his accounts? In another article for the New York Times, the duo stated “But the story of Stetson Kennedy was one long series of anecdotes -- which, no matter how many times they were cited over the decades, were nearly all generated by the same self-interested source.” This supports my view that Kennedy wanted fame and recognition and used his position in the FWP to achieve these goals.

After this article was published by Dubner and Levitt, the website operated by the Stetson

Kennedy Trust retaliated in defense of Kennedy. It published an article written by Charlie Patton of the Florida Times-Union, defending Kennedy and claiming the Freakonomics authors

“attacked“ the late legend. Why Kennedy cared so much about defending himself gets at the larger idea that Kennedy was remarkably concerned with his legacy. At almost 90 years old,

Kennedy took pains to ensure that his reputation remained intact. He laid into the New York

Times article saying “Stephen Dubner and Steve Levitt had it right the first time when they wrote in their book Freakonomics, after citing Klan historian Wynn Craig Wade’s assessment, that my initiation/exposure of the Klan was the single most important factor in curbing its postwar growth…”183 It is true that Stetson Kennedy cared deeply about righting racial injustices, but I argue that he cared just as much about his reputation.

182 Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt. "Hoodwinked?" The New York Times. January 08, 2006. Accessed March 29, 2017. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/magazine/hoodwinked.html.

183 "Response to “Freakonomics: Hoodwinked?”." Articles on and by Stetson Kennedy. Accessed March 29, 2017. http://www.stetsonkennedy.com/articles/times_union_art.html. !49

In the case of Hurston and Kennedy’s relationship, specifically their joint work on the

FWP, scholars have overlooked a larger story. What their relationship meant for Kennedy and what it meant Hurston are markedly different. In an article written by Kennedy and published in the Folklife Center News journal in 2000, he starts off by saying “Whenever anyone asks me what it was like, working with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and recording Florida folksongs back in the 1930s for the Library of Congress, I tell them we were as excited as a bunch of kids on a treasure hunt.“184 He then goes on to explain how this process was new for the team, but they were certain it was beneficial for the preservation of history.185 While Kennedy could certainly describe himself, rather accurately, as a kid on a treasure hunt with little experience, this description is not applicable to one woman under his supervision: Hurston, the seasoned, veteran of folklore collection and writing.

The FWP needed to use Hurston’s name in order to bolster its reputation. The Florida chapter was not having much success at garnering attention, but having an acclaimed figure like

Hurston writing for its publications validated the FWPs work. The national office needed at least one state chapter to produce a lauded guidebook in order to continue receiving funds.186

Directors were hoping Florida would be this chapter and Hurston would help it get there. They were eager to use Hurston’s name whenever and wherever possible. For example, the final publication of the guidebook Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State was published using mostly anonymous contributions. There were very few credits given to the writers of the hundreds of excerpts. However, Hurston’s name appears in the literature multiple times. For

184 Stetson Kennedy, A Florida Treasure Hunt. Folklife Center News 22 (4): 3-8.

185 Ibid.

186 Pamela G. Bordelon, "The Federal Writers' Project's Mirror to America: The Florida Reflection." (1991). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 5168. http://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/51, Page 163. !50 example, in Part I a paragraph is dedicated to Hurston and her accomplishments as an African

American writer from Eatonville, Florida. Furthermore, in Part III the text states “Eatonville is the birthplace and home of Hurston (1903— ), and the locale of her novel, Their Eyes Were

Watching God, (1937). This is Eatonville in her eyes.”187 The text goes on to include a page on

Hurston’s personal sentiments and information on Eatonville. Next, on Tour 13, it reads “In her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), Hurston vividly describes the scene…” and subsequently incorporates paragraphs from her celebrated book.188 The fact that the editors of

Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State included these segments from Hurston’s work and credited her is telling. It was extremely rare for an author to be recognized for their work in any of the 48 guide books. On the other hand, Stetson Kennedy’s name does once not appear in the index of the guide.

The implication by scholars that the trips Kennedy and Hurston took were just as exciting for Hurston as they were for Kennedy, or that they were equally defining moments for both of them, is unfounded. This experience was not formative for Hurston, rather it was an interim position while she wrapped up other projects. Not only that, but Hurston was under serious

financial strain and needed the income the FWP could provide, especially after the Depression.

On the other hand, this experience defined Kennedy’s early career and arguably brought him closer to the spotlight he craved. Kennedy was sure to sprinkle Hurston’s name into works he published, while Hurston never once mentions him or the FWP. By omitting Kennedy’s name from her writings, Hurston kept Kennedy out of her narrative. Initially, I believed that Hurston seemed to deliberately cut Kennedy out of her personal narrative and that this could be attributed

187 Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Florida. 1939. Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State. New York: Oxford University Press.

188 Ibid, 475. !51 to a possible falling out between the two of them. This seemed likely as Hurston oftentimes cut people out of her life with whom she had disagreements.189 However, after further research, I do not believe this is the case. Rather, I think Stetson Kennedy was essentially irrelevant to Hurston.

While she was such a defining part of young Kennedy’s career, he was just a blip on her screen, a hurdle she had to jump over before resuming work where her true passion lied.

On the surface, it can be seen as inspiring for a white man to care so little about the fact that Hurston was African American, especially during the height of Jim Crow. How courageous of Kennedy to be able to look past the color of Hurston’s skin color and work with her. However, by putting this into the larger trajectory of their careers, it makes perfect sense why Kennedy was so willing to jump at the chance to work with Hurston. It was to his advantage. Hurston was on the verge of being, if she was not already, a household name. Stetson Kennedy, however, was not. By hitching his ride to Hurston’s wagon, he was able to propel himself into the life of fame was chasing. All the while, Kennedy exploited his so-called relationship with Hurston and ensured that as a black woman, she would never leave a more significant legacy on the FWP than he would.

Thirty years after her work as director of the Florida FWP ended, Corse stated, “I feel that the principle oversight in my direction of the project was my failure to realise [sic] that Zora should have written the Negro book…but she was forty years ahead of her time.”190 Naturally,

Corse stated this in a 1976 interview, around the same time Hurston was receiving a significant

189 Andrew Delbanco, "The Political Incorrectness of Zora Neale Hurston." The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, no. 18 (1997): 103. Accessed November 08, 2016. Hurston had a large falling out with Langston Hughes most notably, amongst many others.

190 Catherine A. Stewart, Long Past Slavery: Representing Race in the Federal Writers' Project. N.p.: Paw Prints, 2016. Print. Page 173. !52 amount of posthumous fame and attention.191 However, what happened to Hurston on the FWP was not due to an “oversight in direction” as Corse states, but rather was a direct result of blatant racial discrimination. Had editors not worked so diligently to control this Florida narrative,

Hurston’s historical accounts would appear in the pages of FWP publications today. Editors and racially discriminatory practices were not only determining factors for what was published on the project—they also controlled the legacy Hurston was able to leave. She was largely silenced by the FWP and its leadership, but when it came to how she would recall the experience, she chose to remain silent herself. Hurston never spoke on her experience on the project, rather she took it in stride. She knew this experience would not define her, nor dictate her future. As she states in

Their Eyes Were Watching God, “no matter how far a person can go the horizon is still way beyond you.”192 The future was still way beyond Hurston.

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