You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays

by Zora Neale Hurston, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Genevieve West

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063043862
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/10/2023
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	209,874
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 5.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist. She wrote four novels (Jonah’s Gourd Vine, 1934; Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1937; Moses, Man of the Mountains, 1939; and Seraph on the Suwanee, 1948); two books of folklore (Mules and Men, 1935, and Every Tongue Got to Confess, 2001); a work of anthropological research, (Tell My Horse, 1938); an autobiography (Dust Tracks on a Road, 1942); an international bestselling nonfiction work (Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo,” 2018); and over fifty short stories, essays, and plays. She attended Howard University, Barnard College, and Columbia University and was a graduate of Barnard College in 1928. She was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, and grew up in Eatonville, Florida.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. An award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Professor Gates has authored or coauthored twenty-two books and created eighteen documentary films, including Finding Your Roots. His six-part PBS documentary, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross, earned an Emmy Award for Outstanding Historical Program-Long Form, as well as a Peabody Award, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, and NAACP Image Award.

M. Genevieve West is Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English, Speech, and Foreign Languages at Texas Woman’s University. A scholar of Zora Neale Hurston’s work, West has contributed to prestigious academic journals such as African American Review, Amerikastudien/American Studies, Receptions, and Women’s Studies. She is the author of one work of literary criticism, Zora Neale Hurston and American Literary Culture, and the editor of Hurston's Harlem Renaissance short stories Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick. 

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.

Table of Contents

Editors' Note ix

Introduction 1

Part 1 On the Folk

Bits of Our Harlem 25

High John de Conquer 28

The Last Slave Ship 38

Characteristics of Negro Expression 47

Conversions and Visions 66

Shouting 72

Spirituals and Neo-Spirituals 76

Ritualistic Expression from the Lips of the Communicants of the Seventh Day Church of God 81

Part 2 On Art and Such

You Don't Know Us Negroes 107

Fannie Hurst 117

Art and Such 123

Stories of Conflict 129

The Chick with One Hen 131

Jazz Regarded as Social Achievement 134

Review of Voodoo in New Orleans by Robert Tallant 138

What White Publishers Won't Print 143

Part 3 On Race and Gender

The Hue and Cry About Howard University 151

The Emperor Effaces Himself 173

The Ten Commandments of Charm 182

Noses 184

How It Feels to Be Colored Me 186

Race Cannot Become Great Until It Recognizes Its Talent 191

Now Take Noses 194

Lawrence of the River 196

My Most Humiliating Jim Crow Experience 204

The Lost Keys of Glory 206

The South Was Had 220

Take for Instance Spessard Holland 224

Part 4 On Politics

The "Pet Negro" System 233

Negroes Without Self-Pity 242

The Rise of the Begging Joints 245

Crazy for This Democracy 254

I Saw Negro Votes Peddled 259

Mourner's Bench 270

A Negro Voter Sizes Up Taft 284

Court Order Can't Make Races Mix 296

Which Way the NAACP? 300

Part 5 On the Trial of Ruby McCollum

Zora's Revealing Story of Ruby's 1st Day in Court! 315

Victim of Fate! 321

Ruby Sane! 324

Ruby McCollum Fights for Life 327

Bare Plot Against Ruby 329

Trial Highlights 332

Justice and Fair Play Aim of Judge Adams as Ruby Goes on Trial 334

McCollum-Adams Trial Highlights 336

Ruby Bares Her Love Life 337

Ruby's Story: Doctor's Threats, Tussle over Gun Led to Slaying! 344

Ruby's Troubles Mount: Named in $100,000 Lawsuit! 351

The Life Story of Mrs. Ruby J. McCollum! 354

My Impressions of the Trial 387

Chronological List of Essays 403

Acknowledgments 405

Credits 409

Notes 412

Index 441

Editorial Reviews

This volume enables readers both steeped in and new to Hurston to discover her acerbic wit, her crisp prose, and the breadth of her artistic ability and interests .... an invaluable nonfiction companion to the collection of Hurston's short stories.” — Booklist

“I liked this book... Reading Hurston, you always wonder what shape her dignity will take next. Her style and spark were her own.”  — New York Times

“Hurston is bold, honest, and provocative, as always, whether she’s pontificating on the ideological mirage of white feminism or insisting that school integration did less than we thought to improve Black students’ educations. The lyrical and uncompromising prose in this collection offers a window into the world of one of our greatest literary minds.”
— Vulture

"Dazzling... provocative, funny, bawdy, informative and outrageous. Gates and West have put together a comprehensive collection that lets Hurston shine as a writer, a storyteller and an American iconoclast."
— Washington Post

“You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays by Zora Neal Hurston creates a powerful and nuanced mosaic of Black culture.”
— Christian Science Monitor

"This is a carry-it-everywhere-with-you kind of book, perfect for times when you need some introspection as diversion. “You Don’t Know Us Negroes” is like that, and that’s just the way it is."
— Philadelphia Tribune

“Vigorous writings from a controversial and important cultural critic.” — Kirkus Reviews

“You Don’t Know Us Negroes” adds immeasurably to our understanding of Hurston, who was a tireless crusader in all her writing, and ahead of her time. Though she was often misunderstood, sometimes maligned and occasionally dismissed, her words make it impossible for readers to consider her anything but one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century. Despite facing sexism, racism and general ignorance, Hurston managed to produce a written legacy that, thanks to enduring collections like this one, will engage readers for generations to come.”
— New York Times Book Review

"The depth and power of Hurston’s prose continues to dazzle." — The Guardian

"With much of her work having been released and re-released posthumously, this collection recogni[z]es one of the finest writers of the 20th century." — Sunday Express (UK)

“You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays showcases the author’s breadth in a thrilling, if also uncomfortable, journey.” — The Atlantic

From the Publisher

You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays by Zora Neal Hurston creates a powerful and nuanced mosaic of Black culture.”

Christian Science Monitor

"Dazzling... provocative, funny, bawdy, informative and outrageous. Gates and West have put together a comprehensive collection that lets Hurston shine as a writer, a storyteller and an American iconoclast."

Washington Post

Hurston is bold, honest, and provocative, as always, whether she’s pontificating on the ideological mirage of white feminism or insisting that school integration did less than we thought to improve Black students’ educations. The lyrical and uncompromising prose in this collection offers a window into the world of one of our greatest literary minds.”

Vulture

This volume enables readers both steeped in and new to Hurston to discover her acerbic wit, her crisp prose, and the breadth of her artistic ability and interests .... an invaluable nonfiction companion to the collection of Hurston's short stories.

Booklist

"This is a carry-it-everywhere-with-you kind of book, perfect for times when you need some introspection as diversion. “You Don’t Know Us Negroes” is like that, and that’s just the way it is."

Philadelphia Tribune

You Don’t Know Us Negroes” adds immeasurably to our understanding of Hurston, who was a tireless crusader in all her writing, and ahead of her time. Though she was often misunderstood, sometimes maligned and occasionally dismissed, her words make it impossible for readers to consider her anything but one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century. Despite facing sexism, racism and general ignorance, Hurston managed to produce a written legacy that, thanks to enduring collections like this one, will engage readers for generations to come.”

New York Times Book Review

"Dazzling... provocative, funny, bawdy, informative and outrageous. Gates and West have put together a comprehensive collection that lets Hurston shine as a writer, a storyteller and an American iconoclast."

Washington Post

This volume enables readers both steeped in and new to Hurston to discover her acerbic wit, her crisp prose, and the breadth of her artistic ability and interests .... an invaluable nonfiction companion to the collection of Hurston's short stories.

Booklist

★ 11/22/2021

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. Agent: Joy Harris, The Joy Harris Literary Agency. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

I liked this book... Reading Hurston, you always wonder what shape her dignity will take next. Her style and spark were her own.” 

New York Times

"With much of her work having been released and re-released posthumously, this collection recogni[z]es one of the finest writers of the 20th century."

The Sunday Express

"The depth and power of Hurston’s prose continues to dazzle."

The Guardian

★ 03/01/2022

What is there to say about Hurston that hasn't already been said? One of the most lauded writers of the 20th century, particularly with regard to her work during the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston defies categorization. The importance of sharing and celebrating her work should not be understated, and this collection of essays (edited by Genevieve West and Henry Louis Gates Jr.) does just that. It spans 35 years of Hurston's prolific career, allowing listeners to hear her develop as a writer, critic, and archivist of African American art and culture. The collection includes some of her last published works, written during the early years of the civil rights movement. Truly a joy to listen to, the thematically grouped essays cover a breadth of subjects: politics, African folklore, gender, race, and Black art's significance in American culture. The spectacularly talented narrator Robin Miles imbues these most important works with the gravitas and flair they deserve. VERDICT The essays and their subject matter are made all the more impactful by the truly moving experience of listening to Miles's interpretation of Hurston's words.—Anna Clark

Library Journal - Audio

★ 03/11/2022

This incredible collection of fifty essays by Hurston (Their Eyes Were Watching God) is a treat for fans of the Harlem Renaissance author whose popularity continues to grow. Some of these collected writings have never before been previously published or are being reprinted for the first time since initial publication. Spanning four decades (1922–1958), her writings are organized by themes including race, gender, politics, and the arts. Editors Gates (Harvard) and West (Texas Woman's University) frequently employ earliest surviving manuscripts including documents written in Hurston's own hand. The editors acknowledge the contradictions sometimes found between Hurston's views and her own lived experiences. Texts include book reviews and riveting newspaper reports related to Ruby McCollum's murder trial. Hurston satirized Marcus Garvey's pomposity and provided a critical (and for many, controversial) perspective on the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Her account of the discord between administration and faculty at Howard University in the 1920s resembles disagreements found in many of today's higher education institutions. These essays demonstrate Hurston's extraordinary talent as a journalist and writer. VERDICT This excellent collection of essays will appeal to many readers especially individuals interested in African American history, literature, and culture.—Erica Swenson Danowitz

Library Journal

Robin Miles narrates this audiobook with empathy and a sure sense of Hurston’s literary voice. She arranges her pace and adapts her tone in ways that give listeners access to the author’s idiosyncratic brilliance. Capturing Hurston’s intonations and invigorating her varied essays with an understanding of the author’s intentions help reveal her meanings and bring Hurston’s world vividly to life. Whether it be the title story in which she argues that African Americans have been so stereotyped in literature that their real lived experience has not been expressed or her controversial takes on segregated education or her detailed reporting of the 1952 Ruby McCollum murder trial, Miles’s narration works. Listeners hear her nuances and gain an appreciation for her as a folklorist, literary stylist, and deft journalist. A.D.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2022 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2022 - AudioFile

Robin Miles narrates this audiobook with empathy and a sure sense of Hurston’s literary voice. She arranges her pace and adapts her tone in ways that give listeners access to the author’s idiosyncratic brilliance. Capturing Hurston’s intonations and invigorating her varied essays with an understanding of the author’s intentions help reveal her meanings and bring Hurston’s world vividly to life. Whether it be the title story in which she argues that African Americans have been so stereotyped in literature that their real lived experience has not been expressed or her controversial takes on segregated education or her detailed reporting of the 1952 Ruby McCollum murder trial, Miles’s narration works. Listeners hear her nuances and gain an appreciation for her as a folklorist, literary stylist, and deft journalist. A.D.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2022 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2022 - AudioFile

2021-11-04
A collection of Hurston’s trenchant, acerbic commentaries on Black life.

Edited, introduced, and extensively annotated by scholars Gates and West, 50 essays written over nearly four decades showcase the uncompromising views of novelist, anthropologist, folklorist, and critic Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960). Organized thematically into sections focusing on “the Folk,” race, gender, art, politics, and the scandalous trial of a Black woman accused of killing her White lover, the essays cohere to present Hurston’s “lifelong attempt to reclaim traditional Black folk culture from racist and classist degradations, to share with her readers the ‘race pride’ she felt, to build the race from within.” In the title essay, among the handful previously unpublished, Hurston excoriates Whites for assuming that they understand anything about Black experience. “Most white people have seen our shows but not our lives,” she wrote in 1958. “If they have not seen a Negro show they have seen a minstrel or at least a black-face comedian and that is considered enough.” She hurled criticism at some Blacks, as well: After Harlem Renaissance leader Alain Locke panned her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, she damned him as a fraud. In “Which Way the NAACP?” written in 1957, Hurston questioned “the interpretation of ‘advancement’ ” by the organization that pressed for school integration. “One has to be persuaded that a Negro suffers enormously by being deprived of physical contact with the Whites and be willing to pay a terrible price to gain it,” she wrote. Co-founded by W.E.B. Du Bois, the NAACP, she predicted, “will remain a self-constituted dictatorship so long as it does not ask and receive a mandate from the entire Negro population of the United States.” Writing during the Harlem Renaissance, Jim Crow, and civil rights unrest, Hurston argued for recognizing “the full richness of the African American experience” through its unique contributions to art, music, and language.

Vigorous writings from a controversial and important cultural critic.

Kirkus Reviews