In the following audio collections, we present a chronological exploration of Zora Neale Hurston’s ethnographic research into the black sonic. Using selections from her books, Tell My Horse, Mules and Men, and various essays, we aim to contextualize Hurston’s engagement with sound as an academic tool during her anthropological tours of the American South and the Caribbean. As you move through this page, you too will engage with quotes from relevant texts, hoodoo recipes, and recordings of Hurston herself as she produced sonic content from her folk song studies.
Audio Collection: The American South
In 1928, Zora Neale Hurston graduated from Barnard College with a Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology. At this point, she decided to return to Florida and begin an exploration into the folklore and music of the Black American South. Florida, and the all-black community of Eatonville in particular, was the most sensible and comfortable jumping off point for her to begin her work as an anthropologist, as she would later describe in her introduction to Mules and Men,
On this initial trip back through her home state, she encountered a wealth of folk songs and stories in the turpentine camp outside of Loughman, and then continued her expedition through the cities of Pierce, Lakeland, and Mulberry. She would later return to the Loughman turpentine camp in 1934 to edit her first book, Mules and Men.
Hurston’s travels in the South ultimately led her to New Orleans in 1930, the voodoo capital of America, where Langston Hughes introduced her to a few local contacts. Here, she began to study voodoo both as a practitioner and a scholar. Alongside folklore and music, Hurston held fast to her interest in voodoo and American hoodoo throughout her life. From her 1931 essay, “Hoodoo in America” she describes their distinction,
Below we include several hoodoo procedures that Hurston learned from a famous hoodoo doctor in New Orleans, Ruth Mason.
Recipes Introduction
“How to Get the Black Cat Bone”
“To Drive a Person Away”
Hurston’s exploration of voodoo continued into the Caribbean from 1936-1938. (see Audio Collection: Tell My Horse)
In the mid-1930s, Hurston published an essay entitled, “Folklore and Music” in which she describes folklore and her particular interest in Florida.
Folklore is…
Folklore in Florida…
From 1937 to 1942, Hurston’s preoccupation with the black sonic would finally result in an enduring sound production. The origin of these recordings are quite interesting. President FDR created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) by executive order in 1935, as part of the New Deal program to provide work for those hit hard by the Great Depression. One of its programs, the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP), hired unemployed writers, artists, actors, and musicians — Hurston became one of these writers. One of the projects Hurston worked on during her time here was the Florida Folklife Project.
The focus of this project was to capture Florida folk culture in a permanent and and truthful way. Here, Hurston modifies her ethnographic approach and focuses on engaging with recording technology. The recording equipment she used was loaned to the Florida Folklife Project by the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress.
Hurston was part of a team of archivists that hauled a massive disc recorder across Florida to collect sound recordings of folk songs, folk tales, gospel, life histories, beliefs from diverse cultures and communities. The collection features recordings in many languages, blues and work songs from fisherman, railroad workers, and turpentine camps. However, many recordings deteriorated over time and were lost.
“Halimuhfack”
“Uncle Bud”
“Dat Ole Black Gal”
