Sallie, as well as a mulatto slave named Luke, a
slave informer named Jude, and a white slave
owner named John. The play begins as the men
and women speculate on the fate of a runaway
named Slim. They challenge Jude, who has shared
details of the man’s escape route with the master,
but who insists on keeping company with them.
The master appears and attempts to intimidate the
slaves. He threatens to sell them away because of
their harsh treatment of the tattler. Once he leaves
the cabin, however, the light-skinned slave Luke
reappears in the clothes of the master. Richardson
does not specify how the young man has come into
possession of his master’s wardrobe or keys held by
Jude. He stresses the looming heroic potential of
this figure as the play ends. The two couples and
Luke begin their journey to freedom, and it is in re-
sponse to Luke’s “commanding gesture” that the
group begins its exodus.
Bibliography
Gray, Christine Rauchfuss. Willis Richardson: Forgotten Pi-
oneer of African-American Drama.Westport, Conn.:
Greenwood Press, 1999.
Patton, Venetria K., and Maureen Honey, eds. Double-
Take: A Revisionist Harlem Renaissance Anthology.
New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2001.
Florida Negro, The Zora Neale Hurston
(date unknown)
An unpublished work by the anthropologist and
novelist ZORANEALEHURSTON. The collection of
folktales and songs was written during her tenure
with the Federal Writers’ Project (FWP), which she
joined seven months after publishing her acclaimed
work THEIREYESWEREWATCHINGGOD(1937).
Hurston, like other writers who were able to prove
their need of financial support, was hired to collect
materials for the national project. She traveled
throughout Florida working as a field researcher
and writer and earned $63 a month for her efforts.
Hurston’s penchant for innovative outreach and
entrepreneurial efforts to support the artistic ven-
tures of black musicians prompted Henry Alsberg,
the national director of the Federal Writers’ Pro-
ject, to suggest that Hurston be appointed editor of
the volume and receive a substantial increase in
salary. The current director, a white woman named
Carita Dogget Corse, who both hired and admired
Hurston, compromised somewhat in order to pre-
vent racial upheaval in her offices. She promoted
Hurston to the position of “Negro editor” and in-
creased Hurston’s travel allowance but did not pro-
vide any office space for the writer.
The volume included chapters devoted to
the arts, religion, folklore, and music. Among the
essays that Hurston completed were “Go Gator
and Muddy the Water,” a discussion of African-
American folk materials, and “Negro Mythical
Places,” an essay on imaginary restful places. Ac-
cording to biographer Valerie Boyd, one of
Hurston’s most riveting submissions was “The
Ocoee Riot,” an account of a 1920 attack by
whites on blacks in a town near Hurston’s own
home of EATONVILLE. Hurston’s graphic descrip-
tions of the mob violence ultimately prompted
the white editors of the Florida guidebook series
to include only minute portions of the essay.
Despite the bulk and breadth of Hurston’s es-
says, the FWP editors used only a small portion of
her writings. These informative and descriptive
writings were published in full for the first time in
1993 and have enjoyed new critical attention.Bibliography
Bordelon, Pamela, ed., Go Gator and Muddy the Water:
Writings by Zora Neale Hurston from the Federal Writ-
ers’ Project with Biographical Essays by Pamela Borde-
lon.New York: W. W. Norton, 1999.
Boyd, Valerie. Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora
Neale Hurston.New York: Scribner, 2003.
Felker, Christopher. “‘Adaptation of the Source’: Ethno-
centricity and ‘The Florida Negro’” in Steve Glass-
man and Kathryn Lee Seidel eds., Zora in Florida.
Orlando: University of Central Florida, 1991.
146–158.
Findlay, James, and Margaret Bing. “Touring Florida
Through the Federal Writer’s Project.” Broward
County Library. Available online. URL: http://
http://www.co.broward.fl.us/library/bienes/lii10213.htm.
Accessed May 20, 2005.
Hemenway, Robert. Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biog-
raphy.Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1977.“Flower of the South”Gertrude Schalk(1930)
A short story about culture shock and LYNCHING
by GERTRUDESCHALK. Published in the 1930 issue“Flower of the South” 169