Reading the packet handed out by the teacher I was quite surprised. The lady that was writing this article was trying to find accurate information on voodoo practices of the Southern Blacks in the 1930's. As she went around trying to find materials she was very let down by white racist anthropologists and folklorists she thought she could trust. When she audited a class she heard Zora's name mentioned for the first time and wanted to find out more about her but the teacher just quickly talked about her and spent more time on the more famous writes and poets of that time.
While reading Zora's work the thought of being racially and cultrually inferior to whites never crossed her mind which pleased me. Since it seems that all the things we have read up to this point was just about how blacks have been racially segregated, and inferior to the white race. In Zora's writings she would talk about a superior society which is a nice change of pace.
Many blacks have forgoteen about their southern heritage but after Zora's book Mules and Men changed all that. It completely changed how Blacks felt and thought. By reading her book it "gave back all the stories they had forgotten or of which they have grown to be ashamed of which was told to them years ago by their parents and grandparents which would make them weep or laugh." It showed them just how great these stories are. I haven't read Zora's book but I think it would be very interesting and a great read.
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I enjoyed reading this handout. It makes you see both sides of what went on during this time. We know that it was not unusual for blacks for abandon their heritage to fit into white society. On the other hand, we haven't seen many situations where blacks have been uplifted to accept who they are and not care what others think. In Hurston's book, blacks were able to gain happiness again and were able to relate to what Hurston was writing. They realized they didn't have to abandon who they were. I liked this handout because we were able to see how people (Hurston) helped blacks to see the better side of things.
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