Zora Neale Hurston's Final Decade

In 1948, false accusations of child molestation all but erased the reputation and career Zora Neale Hurston had worked for decades to build. Sensationalized in the profit-seeking press and relentlessly pursued by a prosecution more interested in a personal crusade than justice, the morals charge brought against her nearly drove her to suicide.

But she lived on. She lived on past her accuser’s admission that he had fabricated his whole story. She lived on for another twelve years, during which time she participated in some of the most remarkable events, movements, and projects of the day.

Since her death, scholars and the public have rediscovered Hurston’s work and conscientiously researched her biography. Nevertheless, the last decade of her life has remained relatively unexplored. Virginia Moylan fills in the details--investigating subjects as varied as Hurston’s reporting on the trial of Ruby McCollum (a black woman convicted of murdering her white lover), her participation in designing an "anthropologically correct" black baby doll to combat stereotypes, her impassioned and radical biography of King Herod, and her controversial objections to court-ordered desegregation.

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Zora Neale Hurston's Final Decade

In 1948, false accusations of child molestation all but erased the reputation and career Zora Neale Hurston had worked for decades to build. Sensationalized in the profit-seeking press and relentlessly pursued by a prosecution more interested in a personal crusade than justice, the morals charge brought against her nearly drove her to suicide.

But she lived on. She lived on past her accuser’s admission that he had fabricated his whole story. She lived on for another twelve years, during which time she participated in some of the most remarkable events, movements, and projects of the day.

Since her death, scholars and the public have rediscovered Hurston’s work and conscientiously researched her biography. Nevertheless, the last decade of her life has remained relatively unexplored. Virginia Moylan fills in the details--investigating subjects as varied as Hurston’s reporting on the trial of Ruby McCollum (a black woman convicted of murdering her white lover), her participation in designing an "anthropologically correct" black baby doll to combat stereotypes, her impassioned and radical biography of King Herod, and her controversial objections to court-ordered desegregation.

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Zora Neale Hurston's Final Decade

Zora Neale Hurston's Final Decade

by Virginia Lynn Moylan
Zora Neale Hurston's Final Decade

Zora Neale Hurston's Final Decade

by Virginia Lynn Moylan

eBook

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Overview

In 1948, false accusations of child molestation all but erased the reputation and career Zora Neale Hurston had worked for decades to build. Sensationalized in the profit-seeking press and relentlessly pursued by a prosecution more interested in a personal crusade than justice, the morals charge brought against her nearly drove her to suicide.

But she lived on. She lived on past her accuser’s admission that he had fabricated his whole story. She lived on for another twelve years, during which time she participated in some of the most remarkable events, movements, and projects of the day.

Since her death, scholars and the public have rediscovered Hurston’s work and conscientiously researched her biography. Nevertheless, the last decade of her life has remained relatively unexplored. Virginia Moylan fills in the details--investigating subjects as varied as Hurston’s reporting on the trial of Ruby McCollum (a black woman convicted of murdering her white lover), her participation in designing an "anthropologically correct" black baby doll to combat stereotypes, her impassioned and radical biography of King Herod, and her controversial objections to court-ordered desegregation.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780813047133
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Publication date: 09/15/2012
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 208
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Virginia Lynn Moylan, educator and independent scholar, is a founding member of the Fort Pierce, Florida, Annual Zora Festival and a contributing author to The Inside Light: New Critical Essays on Zora Neale Hurston.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Zora Neale Hurston: A Biographical Sketch, 1891-1948 7

1 In Hell's Basement: Harlem, 1948-1949 39

2 Sunshine and Southern Politics: Miami, 1950 49

3 Sara Creech and Her Beautiful Doll: Belle Glade, 1950-1951 65

4 Herod the Sun-Like Splendor: Eau Gallie, 1951-1956 87

5 Death on the Suwannee: Live Oak, 1952-1953 115

6 A Crisis in Dixie: Eau Gallie, 1954-1956 130

7 The Last Horizon: Fort Pierce, 1956-1960 149

Conclusion 163

Acknowledgments 167

Notes 171

Select Bibliography 185

Index 187

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