Zora Neale Hurston: African American Writer (Journey to Freedom)

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Summary: Zora Hurston and the celebration of African-American culture
Review: The African American Library's Journey to Freedom series wants to educate children about the achievements and contributions of America's noted African American leaders, inventors, educators, scientists, entrepreneurs, entertainers, and sports figures. As the number of volumes is increased the series gets beyond what we would consider the obvious choices for such biographies to those who are not so obvious. For example, in terms of writers the series has devoted books to Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, and Toni Morrison. Now young readers are introduced to Zora Neale Hurston in this informative volume by Deborah Cannarella.

Hurston's name was not familiar to me, but as Cannarella points out at the end of this volume, Hurston died without fame or wealth. However, because she devoted her life to the celebration of the African-American culture she deserves to be remembered as the most published African-American woman writer of the 1930s. Hurston wrote short stories ("Drenched in Light," "Spunk"), poetry ("O Night"), and plays ("Mule Bone," written with Langston Hughes). But primarily she should be remembered for her novels, most notably "Mules and Men," the first book of African-American folklore written by an African-American, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," based on her travels to Jamaica and Haiti, and her autobiography, "Dust Tracks on a Road."

One of the strengths of the Journey to Freedom series is that these books are always more than just juvenile biographies. You will find out the major details of Hurston's life, but Cannarella also tells of the times in which the writer lived. Consequently you also get a picture of what life was like in the city of Eatonville, Florida, one of the first African-American towns to be run by blacks, as well as learn about the Jim Crow laws that kept whites and "coloreds" part. The book is illustrated mostly with historic black & white photographs of Hurston, her friends, and some of the places where she lived. I especially liked the way Cannarella used the notion of folktales to provide a thread that links the episodes of Hurston's life together. As with the volumes on other great writers, I would think this one would inspire young readers to track down some of Hurston's works as well.