American Experience

Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming A Space

Meet the influential author and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Also a trained anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston collected folklore throughout the South and Caribbean — reclaiming, honoring and celebrating Black life on its own terms.

Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming A Space

1h 52m

Meet the influential author and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Also a trained anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston collected folklore throughout the South and Caribbean — reclaiming, honoring and celebrating Black life on its own terms.

Previews + Extras

  • Teaser | Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming A Space: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Teaser | Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming A Space

    S35 E2 - 30s

    Meet the influential author and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Also a trained anthropologist, Hurston collected folklore throughout the South and Caribbean — reclaiming, honoring and celebrating Black life on its own terms.

  • The Films of Zora Neale Hurston: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Films of Zora Neale Hurston

    S35 E2 - 2m 58s

    Filmmaker Tracy Heather Strain talks about Zora Neale Hurston and her interest in capturing the rural Black folk in her writings and ethnographic work. In multiple trips to the south, Hurston shot 16mm film of rural Black people, culture and customs amassing 85 minutes of footage that she shot and/or directed.

  • Chapter 1 | Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Chapter 1 | Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space

    S35 E2 - 10m 15s

    Meet the influential author and key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Also a trained anthropologist, Hurston collected folklore throughout the South and Caribbean — reclaiming, honoring and celebrating Black life on its own terms.

  • Zora Neale Hurston, In Her Own Words: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Zora Neale Hurston, In Her Own Words

    S35 E2 - 1m 44s

    In 1936, the anthropologist and noted Harlem Renaissance figure Zora Neale Hurston traveled to Jamaica to learn the customs and traditions of its free Black population. Her experience there highlights one of the many ways she was ahead of her time.

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