Zora Neale Hurston Fieldwork 1928

I do not claim anything original from this video.
The film was shot by Hurston in 1928 and I got it from here:
• Video
The audio is Hurston herself, as recorded in the mid 1930's. You can listen to these tunes and more here:
www.floridamemo...
In this video: "Wake Up Jacob", "Tampa," "Mule on the Mountain," and "Halimuhfack"

[@sameerahrhodes4423]

I don't know how I feel hearing her voice...l can't describe it. It feels like hearing the voice of a relative who died before you were born, but you heard all kinds of awesome stories about them. I love this so much.

[@melanatedcutie748]

What a great perspective 👏🏾👏🏾

[@LauraMorland]

Beautifully said. I can hardly belive that I get the chance to hear her voice! I'm almost in tears now.

[@SueSnellLives]

"Better known for her work as a novelist, Zora Neale Hurston could be, according to an essay by Gloria Gibson, the first African-American woman filmmaker. The film footage, which includes Children’s Games (1928), Logging (1928), and Baptism (1929), appears to be from her work as a student of anthropology under the tutelage of famed anthropologist, professor and mentor, Dr. Franz Boas. A graduate of Barnard College and a Guggenheim fellow, Hurston traveled to back to a South similar to her hometown of Eatonville, Florida to capture a variety of short takes of African-American life. Ethnographic in nature, the films reflect a focus of folklorists of that time period who believed that “…cultural performance and beliefs must be expeditiously collected and documented because they would soon be gone forever” (Gibson, 205)."

[@cierrasme]

Thank you for this information. I have recently become intrigued by her. While I have known of her since a child as a writer never knew of her contributions to research and ethnography until a college professor spoke of her in a lecture.

[@AliciaAmun]

I wonder what made her feel such urgency? 🤔 Her work is phenomenal, but how did she know this was all as important as it is

[@anodyne57]

@@AliciaAmun The pace of change since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution for one, which every generation since the early 1800's has felt and seen.

[@pinkchronicles9575]

This makes me miss my grandparents.. what I would give to go back in time...

[@LauraMorland]

This makes me miss my Aunt, who was only 22 years younger than Zora, and lived her whole life in Manatee County (Tampa Bay Area). She was white, by the way -- whites and blacks sound the same in Central Florida!

[@mane_gnona]

I am from Togo and i live now in usa. I love you grand dad cudjoe. by the way cudjoe means he is a Monday-born

[@abbyharrison5185]

Is that confirmed to be him in the first 40 seconds??

[@AuntieHeatherH]

@@abbyharrison5185someone above confirmed it

[@ultimobile]

nice to see the kids smiles back then - the adults may suffer, but the kids can still have fun

[@aupz23]

At the beginning of the film, the man looks to be Cudjoe Kazoola Lewis, who was the last person born on African soil to be enslaved in the United States. Zora Neale Hurston interviewed Cudjoe Kazoola Lewis and included him in what seems to be the very film from 1928! :-) Here is the wikipedia link regarding this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cudjoe_Lewis

[@sbshortcake]

aupz23 You are right. That is him. blog.loa.org/2010/07/zora-neale-hurston-video-of-her.html

[@bellaBdaughterofYAHAWAH7]

Wow! Thank you!

[@melanatedcutie748]

Thank both for these informative links. I'm on a Zora Neale Hurston marathon because I grew up knowing she was an exceptional writer but I didn't know too much about her outside of that. This was very helpful!

[@AuntieHeatherH]

and it turns out he wasn’t the last survivor! 2 more who came as children on the Clotilda outlived him. still, incredibly interesting and thank you for the link!

[@mmedeuxchevaux]

wow, thanks!

[@AuntieHeatherH]

“Nasty butt, stinky butt, take it away!” never thought i’d hear those words from Zora Neale Hurston! 😊

[@azizip171]

Thanks for publishing this historical film. I've returned to it after reading about Buddy Bolden's "Funky Butt" song on various online websites, but particularly on a Mudcat folk music forum discussion thread. I couldn't find the lyrics to the version that Zora Neale Hurton sung in this film, so I transcribed them as follows: [Hurston speaking beginning at 1:34 in the film] "This is a song called “Tampa”. I’ve known it ever since I could remember. So I don’t know who taught it to me, but I heard it sung in my native village when I was a child. Now this was sung by the old folks of course. [song actually begins at 1:50-2:38] Thought I heard somebody say Your nasty butt, your stinky butt Take it away. Ah, Your nasty butt, your sticky butt Take it away. Ah, I do not want it in here. Oh, I do not want it in here Oh, I’m so glad Mr. Bolden* says The women in Tampa gotta wipe their ass. Oh, the women in Tampa gotta wipe their ass. Oh, do not want it in here. Oh, I thought I heard somebody shout. Open the window, let the stink go out. Oh, open the window, let the stink go out. Oh, yes I heard somebody say Your nasty butt, your stinky butt Take it away. Your nasty butt, your stinky butt Take it away. I do not want it in here. *I’m not sure about this name., but I wrote it because it is used in other examples of this song. Additions and corrections are welcome.

[@Amedee360]

Listen to the Jelly Roll Morton interview with the LOC

[@azizip171]

@@Amedee360 thanks for your comment. It took me a moment to figure out that LOC = Library of Congress. I found several Jelly Roll Morton LOC videos and will be sure to watch them. Best wishes!

[@AuntieHeatherH]

she said “not in front of the old folks, of course.” at least that’s what I heard.

[@azizip171]

@@AuntieHeatherH thanks for your comment. I don't hear that, but you may be right.

[@courageous_rebellious1x381]

Thanks for sharing! I'm currently reading their story in Dreams of Africa in Alabama ❤️

[@roslynwilliams4917]

Another good read is "The Slave Ship Clotilda and the making of Africatown, USA" by Natalie S. Robertson

[@derrickbruno3029]

They not telling my family story correctly. As you can see we own video camera and machines and wasn't a white man seen in no clip she provided. They tell my family one thing but I see something totally different and everybody else see it too. We had land and we was straight! Where our damn land at now? Who store or company sitting on our land they ain't paying or have paid in years their rent/taxes to my family?

[@mizundersood]

Who's watching in 2018 because of the book release!!!

[@maryseo.]

Me!

[@lexilopez3629]

Is this Zora's voice?! 😍😍😍

[@jamesmartin4827]

Yup

[@yakabayngu1126]

Yes. Recorded for a WPA project in 1939 I believe

[@ruthsherman2507]

Well .. that's interesting...I actually get to experience one of the places Ms Zora visited Thank you. 👍💯

[@awilsonstoryteller]

Fantastic! Very important footage that documents the real lives of African Americans. I particularly love the footage of the children's game. Zora documents games in "Mules and Men" and included the lyrics and description of the game "There Stands a Blue Bird" which is probably what this film footage represents.

[@lavitaflood6216]

lol, love the different songs,thankyou

[@clintonearlwalker]

I'm here because I seen a story on the news that they might have found the remains of the "Clotilda".

[@jburgos26]

Me too.

[@lifeofashleydixon]

Film of black life…. I cherish this. “You like my features but you don’t like me.”

[@andrewwheelerguitar]

Amazing

[@amxq1337]

Now this might help me with my project

[@wa1ufo]

Thanks!

[@cjaquay29]

everything

[@azizip171]

Andrew Rasmussen, thank you for publishing segments of Zora Neale Hurston's fascinating 1928 films! I showcased this video in this post on my cultural blog: pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/03/heres-fantastic-find-1928-film-clip-of.html I'm particularly interested in the segment from 3:24 to 4:50 of Black girls and boys playing a ring game with a boy dancing in the center. I also intend to publish a post on the "Mule On The Mount" song that Huston sings throughout much of these film segments that are shown in this KZbin video. Andrew Rasmussen, Is the compilation of scenes from Hurstons' films that make up this KZbin video your work or was is it something that Hurston did in 1928? Also, I'd love for any dancers and/or dance historians to share their opinion about whether the dance that the boy does in the center of the circle a buck dance or a jig or is it some other named dance? Also, I'm impressed by the boy performing a flip that ends in a half split. And I wonder if that half split is a precursor to voguing's death drop. Thanks again! I'm glad I happened upon this video! What a powerhouse and a blessing Zora Neale Hurston was.

[@jenniferfiler3338]

yes he does

[@mercylago4744]

she said the women in Tampa got to wash they --- ?

[@ikickarse479]

ass (lol...hence her saying we didn't sing it around the adults) I love her humor.

[@AuntieHeatherH]

forgot to wash their ass!

[@rochellewarren6219]

💜

[@mercylago4744]

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