You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK FROM: Oprah Daily, Business Insider, Marie Claire, The Seattle Times, Lit Hub, Bustle, and New York Magazine’s Vulture Introduction by New York Times bestselling author Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Spanning more than 35 years of work, the first comprehensive collection of essays, criticism, and articles by the legendary author of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston, showcasing the evolution of her distinctive style as an archivist and author.
“One of the greatest writers of our time.”—Toni Morrison
You Don’t Know Us Negroes is the quintessential gathering of provocative essays from one of the world’s most celebrated writers, Zora Neale Hurston. Spanning more than three decades and penned during the backdrop of the birth of the Harlem Renaissance, Montgomery bus boycott, desegregation of the military, and school integration, Hurston’s writing articulates the beauty and authenticity of Black life as only she could. Collectively, these essays showcase the roles enslavement and Jim Crow have played in intensifying Black people’s inner lives and culture rather than destroying it. She argues that in the process of surviving, Black people re-interpreted every aspect of American culture—"modif[ying] the language, mode of food preparation, practice of medicine, and most certainly religion.” White supremacy prevents the world from seeing or completely recognizing Black people in their full humanity and Hurston made it her job to lift the veil and reveal the heart and soul of the race. These pages reflect Hurston as the controversial figure she was—someone who stated that feminism is a mirage and that the integration of schools did not necessarily improve the education of Black students. Also covered is the sensational trial of Ruby McCollum, a wealthy Black woman convicted in 1952 for killing her lover, a white doctor.
Demonstrating the breadth of this revered and influential writer’s work, You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays is an invaluable chronicle of a writer’s development and a window into her world and mind.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
More than three decades of work by novelist Hurston (1891–1960) come together in this showstopping collection. In "Spirituals and Neo-Spirituals," she spotlights the power of spiritual songs, and notes that "in the mouth of the Negro, the English language loses its stiffness... ‘the rim bones of nothing' is just as truthful as ‘limitless space.' " Her pride in the richness of Black American life is evident throughout, especially in "Race Cannot Become Great Until It Recognizes Its Talent" and the title essay, in which she reminds readers that "Two hundred and forty-six years of outward submission during slavery... intensified our inner life instead of destroying it." In "Court Order Can't Make Races Mix" and "Which Way the NAACP?" she reveals her misgivings regarding the Brown v Board of Education decision and its implication that all-Black schools are inferior. Whether reporting on the injustices of the criminal justice system, poking holes in the pomposity of Marcus Garvey, or drawing a character sketch of a Black Florida cattle rancher, Hurston's work stands out for its wit and range. This will delight her fans, and should garner her some new ones.
