High John de Conquer

by Zora Neale Hurston

Overview

"Maybe, now, we used-to-be black African folks can be of some help to our brothers and sisters who have always been white. You will take another look at us and say that we are still black and, ethnologically speaking, you will be right. But nationally and culturally, we are as white as the next one. We have put our labor and our blood into the common causes for a long time. We have given the rest of the nation song and laughter. Maybe now, in this terrible struggle, we can give something else—the source and soul of our laughter and song. We offer you our hope-bringer, High John de Conquer."

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was an influential author of African-American literature and anthropologist, who portrayed racial struggles in the early 20th century American South, and published research on Haitian voodoo. Of Hurston's four novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays, and essays, her most popular is the 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Originally published in The American Mercury (1943).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781479443062
Publisher:	Wildside Press
Publication date:	04/24/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	12
Sales rank:	339,932
File size:	155 KB

About the Author

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and folklorist, is best known for her book Their Eyes Were Watching God. Other classics include the acclaimed short story Sweat. She was deemed "one of the greatest writers of our time" by the novelist Toni Morrison. With the publication of Lies and Other Tall Tales, The Skull Talks Back, and What's the Hurry, Fox? new readers will be introduced to her extraordinary legacy.

Date of Birth:

January 7, 1891

Date of Death:

January 28, 1960

Place of Birth:

Eatonville, Florida

Place of Death:

Fort Pierce, Florida

Education:

B.A., Barnard College, 1928 (the school's first black graduate). Went on to study anthropology at Columbia University.