Your Morning Hurston
Week Four of our regular morning feature here at Friedman of the Plains Worldwide in which we highlight the great words and works of great men and women, as well as those who are insufferable, delusional, and even fictional.
This week . . . Zora Neale Hurston, anthropologist, filmmaker, and author. Born to enslaved parents, she spent her life writing and testifying about African American life in the United States, while exploring its folklore and its diaspora. Toni Morrison said Hurston, “Treated dialogue as a transcript to show white people how it really was in the Florida swamps.” In 1972, Alice Walker located Hurston’s unmarked grave in Eatonville, Florida and made sure it didn’t stay that way.
“When God had made The Man, he made him out of stuff that sung all the time and glittered all over. Some angels got jealous and chopped him into millions of pieces, but still he glittered and hummed. So they beat him down to nothing but sparks but each little spark had a shine and a song. So they covered each one over with mud. And the lonesomeness in the sparks make them hunt for one another.” — Their Eyes Were Watching God