Though largely unappreciated in her own time, Zora’s contributions to the studies of anthropology and ethnography are absolutely groundbreaking. Inspired by her experience growing in in Eatonville, FL, Hurston developed an interest in documenting everyday Black life across the American South, as well as the Caribbean. However, unlike many of her peers, Zora made it a priority to form authentic relationships with the communities that became the subject of her research, often disrupting the standard hierarchy that placed the researcher above their subject, and instead integrating herself into their practices. In striving for authenticity, she also refused to align with the ideals of respectability politics, making sure to document the stories of her subjects as they were told, and frequently using the grammatical structures and phonetic spellings we now associate with AAVE (African American Vernacular English).
Franz Boas (1858-1942) was a German-American anthropologist and ethnomusicologist. Often regarded as "Father of American Anthropology", Boas served as Hurston's academic advisor and professor whilst she studied at Columbia, during which Hurston, largely influenced by his anthropological methods, collaborated with him on ethnographic research.
Ruth Benedict (1887-1948) was an American anthropologist and folklorist. Hurston studied under Benedict while at Columbia.
Melville Jean Herskovits (1885-1963) was an American anthropologist whose studies centered on Afrodiasporic communities in the United states, Latin America, and the Caribbean. He is notable for his efforts to help establish African Diaspora Studies within American academia. While at Barnard, Zora studied under Herskovits, and later collaborated with him on anthropological research.
Charlotte Osgood Mason (1854-1946) was an American socialite and philanthropist who offered financial support to Black artists, writers, and scholars during the Harlem Renaissance. Mason was a patron of Hurston, offering funding to help support her ethnographical research in Florida.
Isabel Wilkerson (1961-) is an American journalist and author, notable for being the first woman of African-American heritage to win the Pulitzer Prize in journalism. Her novels documenting pivotal moments in Black history such as The Great Migration take on a narrative nonfiction form that highlights the oral tradition and lived experience.
The Warmth of Other Suns
by
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson presents a definitive and dramatic account of one of the great untold stories of American history: the Great Migration of six million Black citizens who fled the South for the North and West in search of a better life, from World War I to 1970.
Caste
by
In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings