AUDIO: Zora Neale Hurston in Florida - sound recordings




Zora Neale Hurston
  The following is a compilation of all of the known Zora Neale Hurston sound recordings* created while she worked for the WPA in the 1930s.
   GO HERE TO HEAR THE RECORDINGS LISTED BELOW MP3 
1.

Bella Mina

 MP3Music
2. Crow Dance
 		MP3Music
3.

Dat Old Black Gal

MP3Music
4. Ever Been Down MP3Music
5. Gonna See My Long Haired Babe MP3Music
6. Halimuhfack MP3Music
7. John B. Sails MP3Music
8. Let the Deal Go Down MP3Music
8. Let's Shake It MP3Music
10. Mama Don't Want No Peas, No Rice MP3Music
11. Mule on the Mountain MP3Music
12. Oh Mr. Brown MP3Music
13. Oh the Buford Boat Done Come MP3Music
14. Po' Gal MP3Music
15. Shove it Over MP3Music
16. Tampa MP3Music
17. Tilly, Lend Me Your Pigeon MP3Music
18. Wake Up Jacob MP3Music
     
 

Above is a compilation of all of the known Zora Neale Hurston sound recordings* created while she worked for the WPA in the 1930s. Today, the original recordings are housed at the Library of Congress. Hurston worked for the WPA in 1935 and again in 1939.

Today, Hurston is better known as a major literary figure, but she was also a trained anthropologist, including studying under Franz Boaz. A native of Eatonville, Florida, Hurston fell upon hard times during the Great Depression and eventually sought out relief work with the Federal Writer’s Project (FWP). Having already conducted fieldwork for her own studies, Hurston worked with Herbert Halpert and Stetson Kennedy in the FWP. Her work on Florida’s turpentine camps is still considered authoritative. For more on Hurston and her fieldwork, go to the Florida Memory Project: http://www.floridamemory.com/OnlineClassroom/zora_hurston/

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) – after 1939, the Works Projects Administration – was a work-relief program created in 1935 by the President Franklin Roosevelt’s Administration that had employed over 8.5 million people by its demise in 1943. One of its programs was the Federal Writers Project (FWP), which included a Folklore Section. This section conducted fieldwork, recording songs, traditions, and stories across the nation. Originally created to gather material for the American Guide Series, later emphasis was placed upon fieldwork for the preservation of folk traditions for future generations.

In Florida, the FWP was based out of J
via floridamemory.com