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Looking for Zora Neale Hurston on the Florida Federal Writer's !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
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