In honor of Black History month  The Bootleg Book Club read You Don’t Know Us Negroes by Zora Neal Hurston. 

About the Author

This book revitalized the well deserved attention and recognition towards Zora Neale Hustron. Zora was born in Alabama, but grew up in Eatonville, FL, an all black community. Evident in her writing that she grew up around Black excellence and believed that there was no need to cater to the white gaze. She was a novelist, filmmaker, and anthropologist. She was a student at Howard and then Barnard. She was married several times over, but did not stay married. While a decorated and well known writer, unfortunately, she was never properly compensated and buried without a headstone until Alice Walker (another great novelist) found the grave and gave her a headstone in 1973. 

Book Look

  The book is a collection of Zora Neale Hurston’s writing that expresses the essence of the Black community. Curated in five different sections the reader is given an in depth view on how Hurston believes the Black  community is portrayed in society.  

Bookmark

This collection of work has many moments to highlight. Here are a few of the noteworthy factors we mention:

• “First off he was a whisper, a will to hope, a wish to find something worthy or laughter and song.” p 28
• “Contrary to popular belief their creation is not confined to the slavery period.” p 76
• “But, I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it. Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have see that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world – I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.” p 187 

POV

We discussed a few of our favorite pieces from the book but overall we found that the writing style itself was quite vibrant, poignant, and spectacular to read. On the other hand it was quite difficult to read certain parts because it was challenging to determine when Zora was writing fiction or nonfiction. 

Deep Dive

 Hurston tackles subjects such as Black excellence, exceptionalism, colorism, integration/segregation, equality/justice, family, love, Black womanhood, singleness, faith, and mental health. We review and analyze each section on  the folk, on race & gender, on politics, and on the trial of Ruby McCollum.