Sonic Zora in Florida

Abstract

In this media-enhanced excerpt from Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2021), Daphne A. Brooks delves into Zora Neale Hurston's 1939 experiences as the only Black woman on the staff of the Federal Writers Project's Florida Guide. A keen listener, interviewer, and ethnographer, Hurston, as heard in these recordings, was also a sonic interpreter of vernacular voices and performance styles.