King's Speech

This month, we're doing something a little different.  There are some amazing podcasts out there that give us a view of America through a distinctive lens. One of our favorites is Sidedoor: A podcast from the Smithsonian.  </p><br />Every episode, host Lizzie Peabody sneaks listeners through Smithsonian's side door to search for stories that can't be found anywhere else.</p><br />We're excited to share one of those stories. “King’s Speech” is about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the evolution of his iconic I Have a Dream speech.  It’s fascinating to chart the history of his speech and to hear how Dr. King was influenced by poet Langston Hughes, who worked with the Federal Theatre Project in the 1930s and co-wrote a play with one of the writers featured in the People's Recorder, Zora Neale Hurston.</p><br />Guests: </p>Kevin Young, Director of Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture</p>W. Jason Miller, Author of Origins of the Dream: Hughes's Poetry and King's Rhetoric</p><br />Enjoy the episode!  To hear more, search for Sidedoor wherever you get your podcasts or go to <a href="http://www.si.edu/sidedoor" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.si.edu/sidedoor</a>.</p><br /><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

00:36:49

09 Is This Land Your Land?

<br /></p><strong>Episode Summary:</strong></p><br />This episode features two more stories of outsiders remaking themselves and California history. </p><br />Eluard McDaniel left the Jim Crow South for California as a boy, and remade himself as an activist and writer on the West Coast. His account of his life brought him national attention when it appeared in <em>American Stuff</em>, a book of creative works by members of the Federal Writers’ Project and Federal Art Project selected by Henry Alsberg.</p><br />Miné Okubo was a rising artist with the Federal Art Project who drew on her art and her life story to depict a hidden history of injustice during World War II in her book <em>Citizen 13660</em>. Even decades later, a culture of silence surrounded that experience – until her book won an American Book Award and became testimony that sought redress for Japanese Americans incarcerated during the war.</p><br /><strong>Speakers:</strong></p><br />David Bradley, novelist</p>Seiko Buckingham, niece of Miné Okubo</p>Jeanie Tanaka, niece of Miné Okubo</p>David Kipen, journalist and author</p><br /><strong>Links and Resources:</strong></p><br /><a href="https://archive.org/details/trent_0116400465955" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"American Stuff" anthology by members of the Federal Writers' Project and prints by the Federal Art Project</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE_D5jGdHVQ" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">'Citizen 13660" short film by the National Park Service</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.janm.org/mediaarts/sincerely-mine-okubo" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"Sincerely, Miné Okubo" short film from the Japanese American National Museum</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.janm.org/exhibits/pictures-of-belonging-utah" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"Pictures of Belonging" 2024 art exhibition</a></p><br /><a href="https://alba-valb.org/volunteers/eluard-luchell-mcdaniels/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Eluard McDaniel entry, Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives</a></p><br /><strong>Reading List:</strong></p><br /><em>Citizen 13660,</em> by Miné Okubo</p><em>Miné Okubo: Following Her Own Road</em>, by Greg Robinson</p><em>The Dream and the Deal,</em> by Jerre Mangione</p>“Bumming in California” by Eluard McDaniel, in <em>On the Fly</em>: <em>Hobo Literature and Songs, 1879 – 1941, </em>PM Press</p><em>The Chaneysville Incident: A Novel,</em> by David Bradley</p><em>Dear California,</em> by David Kipen</p><em>Black California</em>, edited by Aparajita Nanda</p><em>California in the 1930s: The WPA Guide to the Golden State</em> with introduction, by David Kipen</p><br /><strong>Credits: </strong></p><br />Host: Chris Haley</p>Director: Andrea Kalin</p>Producers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James Mirabello</p>Writer: David A. Taylor</p>Editor: Ethan Oser</p>Assistant Editor: Amy Young</p>Story Editor: Michael May</p>Additional Voices: Jared Buggage, Mariko Miyazaki, Kate Rafter and Amy Young</p><br />Featuring music and archival from: </p><br />Pete Seeger</p>Joseph Vitarelli</p>Bradford Ellis</p>Pond5</p>Library of Congress</p>National Archives and Records Administration</p>The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library</p>Manny Harriman Video Oral History Collection, Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, NYU Special Collections.</p><br />For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorder</p><br /><strong>Produced with support from: </strong></p><br />National Endowment for the Humanities</p>California Humanities.</p><br /><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

00:34:04

08 Outsiders Remaking History

<strong>Episode Summary:</strong></p><br />California has always attracted outsiders, from the Gold Rush in the 1800s to young actors and filmmakers drawn to Hollywood. California was especially a place of migration during the Great Depression, when tens of thousands came searching for jobs and new beginnings. </p><br />This is the first of two episodes about writers displaced by the Depression who took different paths to remaking themselves in California and documenting America. Future composer Harry Partch was more comfortable as a migrant than in straight mainstream society. Tillie Olsen found her way from Nebraska to become a reporter-activist who faced long odds to becoming a writer as a woman in the 1930s. </p><br />With their work on the Federal Writers’ Project, Olsen and Partch helped create an expansive picture of California, people in migration, and the day-to-day reality that included deep labor unrest. Tensions that roiled across America boiled over in the California Writers’ Project, signaling the struggles to come in the national office. </p><br /><strong>Speakers:</strong></p><br />David Bradley, novelist</p>Mary Gordon, novelist</p>Andrew Granade, musicologist and biographer</p>David Kipen, journalist and author</p><br /><strong>Links and Resources:</strong></p><br /><a href="https://dorothealange.museumca.org/section/the-dust-bowl/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">California and the Dust Bowl - Oakland Museum of California</a></p><br /><a href="https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/29d82f51db8848d5b62790c0854ee102" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">California Gold: Story Map of 1930s California Folk Music </a></p><br /><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/kind-worker-writer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"What Kind of Worker is a Writer" (about Tillie Olsen) by Maggie Doherty in The New Yorker</a></p><br /><a href="https://shortstoryproject.com/stories/i-stand-here-ironing/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"I Stand Here Ironing" by Tillie Olsen</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=wjk4c8l-WJ8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"U.S. Highball," composed by Harry Partch, performed in 2018</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKD3zm0WZjA" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Harry Partch: The Outsider</a></p><br /><strong>Reading List:</strong></p><br /><em>California in the 1930s: The WPA Guide to the Golden State</em> with introduction, by David Kipen</p><em>Harry Partch, Hobo Composer,</em> by S. Andrew Granade</p><em>Tell Me a Riddle,</em> by Tillie Olsen</p><em>The Chaneysville Incident: A Novel, </em>by David Bradley</p><em>Payback: A Novel</em>, by Mary Gordon</p><br /><strong>Credits:</strong></p><br />Host: Chris Haley</p>Director: Andrea Kalin</p>Producers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James Mirabello</p>Writer: David A. Taylor</p>Editor: Ethan Oser</p>Assistant Editor: Amy Young </p>Story Editor: Michael May</p>Additional Voices: Karen Simon, Tim Lorenz, Steve Klingbiel, Sarah Supsiri, and Ethan Oser</p><br />Featuring music and archival from: </p><br />Joseph Vitarelli</p>Bradford Ellis</p>Pond5</p>Library of Congress</p>National Archives and Records Administration</p>BBC</p><br />For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorder</p><br /><strong>Produced with support from: </strong></p><br />National Endowment for the Humanities</p>California Humanities.</p><br /><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

00:45:02

07 A Voice for the Land

<strong>Episode Summary:</strong></p><br />In the 1930s when America was deep in the disaster of the Dust Bowl, Wisconsin professor and wildlife expert Aldo Leopold brought a new way of thinking about how people engage with nature. Studying the dynamics of soil erosion and people’s behavior, he made suggestions for change that led him to the White House to meet the President.</p><br />Leopold faced a personal crisis too, while writing his way toward a new understanding of our relationship with nature. When the Federal Writers’ Project recruited him to write for the WPA Guide to Wisconsin, the picture he described in the guide’s section on Conservation marked a path toward the modern environmental movement. In this episode, Leopold’s biographer, Curt Meine, connects the dots to Earth Day and a new generation of environmentalists.</p><br /><strong>Speakers:</strong></p><br />Curt Meine, biographer</p>Douglas Brinkley, historian</p>Tim Hundt, journalist</p><br /><strong>Links and Resources: </strong></p><br /><a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/wpt-documentaries-aldo-leopold-voice-wilderness/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Aldo Leopold film on PBS</a></p><br /><a href="http://www.nelsonearthday.net/video/vha593_nelsonearthday.php" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gaylord Nelson announces the first Earth Day</a> </p><br /><a href="https://wisconsinhumanities.org/episode-2/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Human Powered Podcast, episode on The Driftless region</a> </p><br /><strong>Reading List: </strong></p><br /><em>WPA Guide to Wisconsin</em></p><em>A Sand County Almanac</em> by Aldo Leopold</p><em>Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work</em> by Curt Meine</p><em>You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World</em>, edited by Ada Limón </p><br /><strong>Credits: </strong></p><br />Host: Chris Haley</p>Director: Andrea Kalin</p>Producers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James Mirabello</p>Writer: David A. Taylor</p>Editor: Ethan Oser</p>Story Editor: Michael May</p>Additional Voices: Tim Lorenz and Susanne Desoutter</p><br />Featuring music and archival from: </p><br />Joseph Vitarelli</p>Bradford Ellis</p>Pond5</p>Library of Congress</p>National Archives and Records Administration</p>Wisconsin Humanities</p><br />Also featuring the song “Wisconsin” performed by Madilyn Bailey.  Written by Madilyn Bailey, Martijn Tienus, John Sinclair and Clifford Golio, and produced by Clifford Golio and Joseph Barba.  Find the full song <a href="https://youtu.be/EcDw3X4ImUU?si=N2rhoBowJphz_b_5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a> and visit her <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/07r7OPIALkj6Icaoj4Kf5l?si=FPQ277DsSCCGZoxZoAI1_w&nd=1&dlsi=2928b93b99e84caf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify artist page to hear more</a>.    </p><br />For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorder</p><br />Produced with support from:</p><br />National Endowment for the Humanities</p>Wisconsin Humanities</p><br /><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

00:32:10

Bonus Content - A Conversation with Gerald Hill

<strong>Episode Summary:</strong></p><br />Gerald Hill is an Oneida lawyer and the former President of the Indigenous Language Institute. This bonus features a conversation with Hill, who provides the voice for Oneida community leader Oscar Archiquette in our episode about the WPA Oneida Language Project in Wisconsin. For that episode, Hill read a handful of Archiquette’s quotes about his life and work on the WPA. After each reading, he gave valuable historical and cultural context for those quotes, which we are excited to share with you. </p><br />Before you listen to this conversation, we strongly recommend you listen to <strong><em>Episode 6: Native Historians Do Stand-Up</em></strong>, which is about Oscar Archiquette and the WPA Oneida Language Project, and how that work still inspires tribal historians today. </p><br /><strong>Links and Resources: </strong></p><br /><a href="https://oneida-nsn.gov/our-ways/our-culture/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Oneida Nation Cultural Heritage Webpage</a></p><br /><a href="https://news.wisc.edu/rediscovered-native-history-notebooks-donated-to-oneida/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Oneida Books Rediscovered</a></p><br /><strong>Further Reading:</strong></p><br /><em>Oneida Lives</em> edited by Herbert Lewis</p><em>Soul of a People</em> by David A. Taylor</p><br /><strong>Credits:</strong></p><br />Director: Andrea Kalin</p>Producers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James Mirabello</p>Editors: Amelia Jarecke and James Mirabello</p>Featuring music from The Oneida Singers and Pond5</p><br />Produced with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Wisconsin Humanities. </p><br />For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorder</p><br /><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

00:27:10

06 Native Historians Do Stand-up

<strong>Episode Summary</strong>:</p><br />In 1977, Charlie Hill became the first Native comedian to perform on a national TV broadcast – a groundbreaking performance in television and cultural history.  </p><br />“It was a <em>huge</em> moment,” said Seminole filmmaker Sterlin Harjo, “When Charlie Hill went on national television and simply spoke like a human being... He changed the public perception about what a Native person <em>is</em>.” </p><br />Charlie Hill’s comedic approach to the Oneida story is part of a long lineage of storytellers and historians defying stereotypes that includes Oscar Archiquette, a young Oneida working construction when the Federal Writers’ Project came to Wisconsin in the 1935. Archiquette joined a local unit of the Writers’ Project that sought to preserve the Oneida language and histories by interviewing elders and transcribing their stories. That work – and its blend of activism, culture and disarming humor – inspired later Oneida historians such as Loretta Metoxen and Gordon McLester and continues to inspire tribal historians today.  </p><br /><strong>Speakers:</strong></p><br />Michelle Danforth Anderson, Oneida documentarian</p>Gordon McLester, Oneida historian</p>Loretta Metoxen, Oneida historian</p>Betty McLester, Oneida elder</p>Gerald Hill, Oneida elder</p>Jennifer Webster, Council Member</p><br /><strong>Links and Resources: </strong></p><br /><a href="https://oneida-nsn.gov/our-ways/our-culture/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Oneida Nation Cultural Heritage Webpage</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFSoWpYjkzc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Charlie Hill's performance on the Richard Pryor Show, 1977</a></p><br /><a href="https://news.wisc.edu/rediscovered-native-history-notebooks-donated-to-oneida/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Oneida Notebooks Rediscovered, 1999</a></p><br /><a href="https://wisconsinhumanities.org/episode-5/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Human-Powered Podcast, Episode 5, "The Power of Indigenous Knowledge</a></p><br /><strong>Further Reading: </strong></p><br /><em>We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans in Comedy</em> by Kliph Nesteroff</p><em>Oneida Lives</em> edited by Herbert Lewis</p><em>Soul of a People: The WPA Writers’ Uncover Depression America</em> by David A. Taylor</p>“Indian Humor” chapter in <em>Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto</em> by Vine Deloria Jr.</p><br /><strong>Credits:</strong></p><br />Host: Chris Haley</p>Director: Andrea Kalin</p>Producers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor and James Mirabello</p>Writer: David A. Taylor</p>Editor: Ethan Oser</p>Story Editor: Michael May</p>Additional Voices: Scott Nelson Elm, Gerald Hill, Ethan Oser and Marjorie Stevens</p>Special Thanks: Christopher Powless</p><br />Featuring music and archival material from: </p><br />The Oneida Singers</p>Joseph Vitarelli</p>Bradford Ellis</p>Pond5</p>Library of Congress</p>National Archives and Records Administration</p>NPR</p>MSNBC</p><br />For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorder</p><br />Produced with support from:</p><br />National Endowment for the Humanities</p>Wisconsin Humanities</p><br /><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

00:45:58

Bonus Content - Adapting Life Story Interviews to Crises Today

<strong>Episode Summary: </strong></p><br />The Federal Writers’ Project interviews, collected in the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, have inspired generations with their personal experiences of American life. The Writers’ Project pioneered oral history and the idea of documenting history from the grassroots up.</p><br />In this bonus, following the episode on the Writers’ Project interviews in Florida, we hear excerpts from oral histories recorded with the nonprofit group StoryCorps. In two conversations, four Floridians talked about their experiences early in the Covid pandemic when frontline workers, often people of color, were particularly vulnerable.</p><br />StoryCorps, launched in 2003 with original WPA writer Studs Terkel on hand, is one of many oral history initiatives directly inspired by the Writers’ Project interviews.</p><br /><strong>Links and Resources:</strong></p><br /><a href="https://www.loc.gov/research-centers/american-folklife-center/about-this-research-center/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">American Folklife Center, Library of Congress</a></p><br /><a href="www.storycorps.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Storycorps</a></p><br /><a href="https://storycorps.org/participate/tips-for-a-great-conversation/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tips for a great oral history interview</a> </p><br /><strong>Credits:</strong></p><br />Host: Chris Haley</p>Director: Andrea Kalin</p>Producers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James Mirabello</p>Editors: James Mirabello, Amy Young and Ethan Oser</p>Writer: David A. Taylor</p><br />Featuring music and archival material from:</p><br />Pond5</p><br />Interview excerpts shared with permission from StoryCorps. The StoryCorps interviews were recorded and produced by StoryCorps and originally aired on April 17th and May 15th, 2020 on NPR’s Morning Edition. Those broadcasts were made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.</p><br />For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorder</p><br /><strong>Produced with support from:</strong> </p><br />National Endowment for the Humanities</p>Virginia Humanities</p>Florida Humanities</p>Wisconsin Humanities</p>California Humanities</p>Humanities Nebraska</p><br /></p><br /><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

00:04:47

05 Deep in Turpentine

<strong>Episode Summary:</strong></p><br />While working on the WPA Florida guidebook, the Federal Writers’ Project team – including Zora Neale Hurston and Stetson Kennedy – documented a wide range of life from prison camps to soup kitchens to hair salons, in recordings that reveal a living culture and enduring traditions.  </p><br />Hurston and Kennedy traveled the state, recording people’s stories and songs. That included a visit to a remote turpentine work site where they encountered a forced labor camp and the brutal conditions in a form of slavery that continued well into the 20th century. </p><br />Project interviewers in Florida also searched for survivors of pre-Civil War slavery and gathered hundreds of interviews. Nationally, thousands of “ex-slave interviews” are treasures for understanding that lived experience. But the Project’s written interviews should be read with caution. Historians remind us that those manuscripts are complicated and often reinforced racial bias and stereotypes.  Historian Tameka Hobbs helps put this work in context and brings it alive.</p><br /><strong>Speakers:</strong></p><br />Peggy Bulger, folklorist</p>Maryemma Graham, literary historian</p>Tameka Hobbs, historian</p>Stetson Kennedy, author and Project alum</p>James McBride, novelist</p>Ernest Toole, folk musician</p>Flo Turcotte, historian</p><br /><strong>Links and Resources: </strong></p><br /><a href="https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/341179" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"Turpentine Camp, Cross City" typescript essay by Zora Neale Hurston</a></p><br /><a href="https://violamuse.unfdhi.org" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">"Viola Muse Digital Edition" Digital Archive of Muse's Writers' Project work</a></p><br /><a href="https://ufdc.ufl.edu/collections/znhurs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Zora Neale Hurston Collection at the University of Florida</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2021689420/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Library of Congress webcast: 75th Anniversary of "These Are Our Lives" a collection of Writers' Project life histories</a></p><br /><a href="https://dust-digital.com/products/drop-on-down-in-florida-field-recordings-of-african-american-traditional-music-1977-1980" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Drop on Down in Florida</a></p><br /><a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/5Rh0cYahBHhs4pCTMkOzLh?si=Z6-dM1DgSq6114zErSMWXA" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ernest Toole Spotify Artist Page </a></p><br /><strong>Further Reading: </strong></p><br /><em>WPA Guide to Florida</em></p><em>Go Gator and Muddy the Water</em> by Zora Neale Hurston, edited by Pamela Bordelon</p><em>Dust Tracks on a Road</em> by Zora Neale Hurston</p><em>To Walk About in Freedom</em>, by Carole Emberton</p><em>These Are Our Lives</em>, life histories from the Federal Writers’ Project</p><em>Conchtown USA: Bahamian Fisherfolk in Riviera Beach, Florida</em>, by Charles C. Foster</p><br /><strong>Credits:</strong></p><br />Host: Chris Haley</p>Director: Andrea Kalin</p>Producers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor and James Mirabello</p>Writer: David A. Taylor</p>Editor: Ethan Oser</p>Story Editor: Michael May</p>Additional Voices: Jared Buggage</p><br />Featuring music and archival material from: </p><br />Joseph Vitarelli</p>Bradford Ellis</p>Pond5</p>Library of Congress</p><br />For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorder</p><br />Produced with support from:</p><br />National Endowment for the Humanities</p>Florida Humanities</p>Stetson Kennedy Foundation</p><br /><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

00:32:52

Bonus Content - Zora Neale Hurston Original Recordings

<strong>Episode Summary:</strong> </p><br />As host Chris Haley said, Zora Neale Hurston was a homegrown Florida treasure, known for her wit, charm, and a true gift for collecting folklore.  As part of her work with the Writers’ Project, she made over a dozen recordings with audio equipment borrowed from the Library of Congress.</p><br />She knew about the equipment from earlier field recordings she had made with folklorist Alan Lomax.  So, when she had the chance to use it for the Writers’ Project, Hurston “checked it out” from the Library. </p><br />We do use short excerpts in our last episode, but the full recordings really are a lot of fun to listen to.  After you listen to these, we encourage you to go to the Library of Congress to listen to more!  </p><br /><strong>Links and Resources:</strong></p><br /><a href="http://blogs.loc.gov/teachers/2015/06/preserving-songs-and-culture-zora-neale-hurston-and-the-federal-writers-project/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Preserving Songs and Culture: Zora Neale Hurston and the Federal Writers' Project</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/flwpa000010/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Original Recording: Georgia Skin</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/flwpa000005/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Original Recording: Dat Old Black Gal</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/flwpa000011/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Original Recording: Let the Deal Go Down</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/flwpa000008/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Original Recording: Mule on the Mount</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/flwpa000012/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Original Recording: Uncle Bud</a></p><br /><strong>Credits:</strong></p><br />Director: Andrea Kalin</p>Producers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor, James Mirabello</p>Editors: James Mirabello and Ethan Oser</p>Writer: James Mirabello</p><br />Featuring music and archival material from:</p><br />Pond5</p>Library of Congress </p><br />For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorder</p><br /><strong>Produced with support from: </strong></p><br />National Endowment for the Humanities</p>Virginia Humanities</p>Florida Humanities</p>Wisconsin Humanities</p>California Humanities</p>Humanities Nebraska</p><br /><br /></p><br /></p><br /><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

00:07:52

04 Who's Recording Who?

<strong>Episode Summary:</strong></p><br />In the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston was already a nationally known novelist, anthropologist and member of the 1920s Harlem Renaissance. Yet she saw her publishing income dry up during the Great Depression even with the publication of her best-known novel, <em>Their Eyes Were Watching God</em>. When she took a job with the Writers’ Project in Florida, her first assignment was to write for the <em>WPA Guide to Florida</em>. In the hands of truth-seekers like Hurston and a young white co-worker, Stetson Kennedy, the Florida WPA guidebook would reflect a wide range of Florida life, “warts and all,” including a report of violent voter suppression in the 1920s—until editors started to push back. This episode follows that conflict. </p><br />Hurston also moved the Writers’ Project to record the songs and folktales of Florida culture. We hear from historians and bestselling novelist James McBride about how that work still resonates today.</p><br /><strong>Speakers:</strong></p><br />Douglas Brinkley, historian </p>Peggy Bulger, folklorist</p>Tameka Hobbs, historian</p>Stetson Kennedy, author and Project alum </p>James McBride, author</p>Flo Turcotte, historian</p><br /><strong>Links and Resources:</strong></p><br /><a href="https://www.floridamemory.com/learn/exhibits/florida-folklife/people/?id=hurston" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Florida Memory Zora Neale Hurston Page</a></p><br /><a href="https://ufdc.ufl.edu/collections/znhurs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Zora Neale Hurston Collection at University of Florida</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.floridamemory.com/learn/exhibits/florida-folklife/subjects/?id=wpa" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Florida Memory WPA Page</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/238740" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Florida Memory Stetson Kennedy Interview</a></p><br /><a href="https://www.npr.org/2010/04/19/126109921/writer-finds-zora-neale-hurstons-florida" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NPR: Writer Finds Zora Neale Hurston’s Florida</a></p><br /><strong>Further Reading:</strong></p><br /><em>WPA Guide to Florida </em></p><em>Go Gator and Muddy the Water</em> by Zora Neale Hurston, edited by Pamela Bordelon</p><em>Palmetto Country</em> by Stetson Kennedy</p><em>Their Eyes Were Watching God</em> by Zora Neale Hurston</p><em>The Good Lord Bird</em> by James McBride</p><em>Stetson Kennedy: Applied Folklore and Cultural Advocacy</em> by Peggy Bulger</p><em>Democracy Abroad, Lynching at Home: Facial Violence in Florida</em> by Tameka Hobbs</p><br /><strong>Credits:</strong></p><br />Host: Chris Haley</p>Director: Andrea Kalin</p>Producers: Andrea Kalin, David A. Taylor and James Mirabello</p>Writer: David A. Taylor</p>Editor: Ethan Oser</p>Assistant Editor: Amy A. Young</p>Story Editor: Michael May</p>Additional Voices: Amesha McElveen and Skip Coblyn</p><br />Featuring music and archival material from: </p><br />Joseph Vitarelli</p>Bradford Ellis</p>Pond5</p>Library of Congress</p>National Archives and Records Administration</p><br />For additional content, visit peoplesrecorder.info or follow us on social media: @peoplesrecorder</p><br /><strong>Produced with support from: </strong></p><br />National Endowment for the Humanities</p>Florida Humanities</p>Stetson Kennedy Foundation</p><br /><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

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