- New Arrivals
Fiction- Historical FictionCrime & ThrillersMysteryScience-FictionFantasyPoetryRomanceChildren’s BooksYoung Adult
- Biographies & MemoirsHistoryCurrent AffairsTech & ScienceBusinessSelf-DevelopmentTravelThe ArtsFood & WineReligion & SpiritualitySportsHumor
Children’s BooksListsGift CardsWhat To ReadMy ListsGames- About & Help
- About Tertulia
- Membership & Co-Ownership
- Shipping & Delivery
- Orders & Payments
- Contact Support
- Send App Feedback
- Follow us
- Download the app
The co-op bookstore for avid readers
You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays
Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 16 reviews on
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK FROM: Oprah Daily, Business Insider, Marie Claire, The Seattle Times, Lit Hub, Bustle, and New York Magazine's Vulture
Introduction by New York Times bestselling author Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Spanning more than 35 years of work, the first comprehensive collection of essays, criticism, and articles by the legendary author of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston, showcasing the evolution of her distinctive style as an archivist and author.
"One of the greatest writers of our time."--Toni Morrison
You Don't Know Us Negroes is the quintessential gathering of provocative essays from one of the world's most celebrated writers, Zora Neale Hurston. Spanning more than three decades and penned during the backdrop of the birth of the Harlem Renaissance, Montgomery bus boycott, desegregation of the military, and school integration, Hurston's writing articulates the beauty and authenticity of Black life as only she could. Collectively, these essays showcase the roles enslavement and Jim Crow have played in intensifying Black people's inner lives and culture rather than destroying it. She argues that in the process of surviving, Black people re-interpreted every aspect of American culture--"modif[ying] the language, mode of food preparation, practice of medicine, and most certainly religion." White supremacy prevents the world from seeing or completely recognizing Black people in their full humanity and Hurston made it her job to lift the veil and reveal the heart and soul of the race. These pages reflect Hurston as the controversial figure she was--someone who stated that feminism is a mirage and that the integration of schools did not necessarily improve the education of Black students. Also covered is the sensational trial of Ruby McCollum, a wealthy Black woman convicted in 1952 for killing her lover, a white doctor.
Demonstrating the breadth of this revered and influential writer's work, You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays is an invaluable chronicle of a writer's development and a window into her world and mind.
Book Details
- Publisher: Amistad Press
- Publish Date: Jan 10th, 2023
- Pages: 464
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 7.60in - 5.10in - 0.80in - 0.75lb
- EAN: 9780063043862
- Categories: • Essays• Women Authors• American - African American & Black
About the Author
Zora Neale Hurston wrote four novels (Jonah's Gourd Vine; Their Eyes Were Watching God; Moses, Man of the Mountains; and Seraph on the Suwanee) and was still working on her fifth novel, The Life of Herod the Great, when she died; three books of folklore (Mules and Men and the posthumously published Go Gator and Muddy the Water and Every Tongue Got to Confess); a work of anthropological research (Tell My Horse); an autobiography (Dust Tracks on a Road); an international bestselling ethnographic work (Barracoon); and over fifty short stories, essays, and plays. She was born in Notasulga, Alabama, grew up in Eatonville, Florida, and lived her last years in Fort Pierce, Florida.
M. Genevieve West is Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English, Speech, and Foreign Languages at Texas Woman's University. A scholar of Zora Neale Hurston's work, West has contributed to prestigious academic journals such as African American Review, Amerikastudien/American Studies, Receptions, and Women's Studies. She is the author of one work of literary criticism, Zora Neale Hurston and American Literary Culture, and the editor of Hurston's Harlem Renaissance short stories Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick.
More books by Zora Neale Hurston
What people are saying
Book club turned literary series, festival & podcast 📚 Founder @guidetoglo ✨ ON GIRLHOOD anthology out now 📖 #WellReadBlackGirl
This year I returned to Zora Neale Hurston over & over again. We can't wait to celebrate her legendary work in 2022 ❤️ pre-order "You Don’t Know Us Negroes And Other Essays", along w/ the #ZoraNealeHurston Boxed Set via @AmistadBooks: https://t.co/0JHk8U2FIU #wellreadblackgirl https://t.co/vDaKDbfhH7
Amistad, a division of HarperCollins in the HarperOne Group, is the oldest imprint devoted to books by and about Black people throughout the diaspora.
✨ Now in paperback ✨ Happy publication week to YOU DON'T KNOW US NEGROES AND OTHER ESSAYS by Zora Neale Hurston! "The lyrical and uncompromising prose in this collection offers a window into the world of one of our greatest literary minds.” — Vulture https://t.co/J9x1RHshVI
Association for the Study of African American Life and History - The Founders of #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackLivesMatter
Tonight T 8 pm! @pbsbooks and ASALHTV: Author Talk: You Don’t Know Us Negroes and Other Essays By ZORA NEALE HURSTON feat @HenryLouisGates & Genevieve West https://t.co/qXjnLKJuwM via @YouTube https://t.co/wc1on1ZdCx
Critics’ reviews
Praise for this book
This volume enables readers both steeped in and new to Hurston to discover her acerbic wit, her crisp prose, and the breadth of her artistic ability and interests .... an invaluable nonfiction companion to the collection of Hurston's short stories." -- Booklist
"I liked this book... Reading Hurston, you always wonder what shape her dignity will take next. Her style and spark were her own." -- New York Times
"Hurston is bold, honest, and provocative, as always, whether she's pontificating on the ideological mirage of white feminism or insisting that school integration did less than we thought to improve Black students' educations. The lyrical and uncompromising prose in this collection offers a window into the world of one of our greatest literary minds."
-- Vulture
"Dazzling... provocative, funny, bawdy, informative and outrageous. Gates and West have put together a comprehensive collection that lets Hurston shine as a writer, a storyteller and an American iconoclast."
-- Washington Post
"You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays by Zora Neal Hurston creates a powerful and nuanced mosaic of Black culture."
-- Christian Science Monitor
"This is a carry-it-everywhere-with-you kind of book, perfect for times when you need some introspection as diversion. "You Don't Know Us Negroes" is like that, and that's just the way it is."
-- Philadelphia Tribune
"Vigorous writings from a controversial and important cultural critic." -- Kirkus Reviews
"You Don't Know Us Negroes" adds immeasurably to our understanding of Hurston, who was a tireless crusader in all her writing, and ahead of her time. Though she was often misunderstood, sometimes maligned and occasionally dismissed, her words make it impossible for readers to consider her anything but one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century. Despite facing sexism, racism and general ignorance, Hurston managed to produce a written legacy that, thanks to enduring collections like this one, will engage readers for generations to come."
-- New York Times Book Review
"The depth and power of Hurston's prose continues to dazzle." -- The Guardian
"With much of her work having been released and re-released posthumously, this collection recogni[z]es one of the finest writers of the 20th century." -- Sunday Express (UK)
"You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays showcases the author's breadth in a thrilling, if also uncomfortable, journey." -- The Atlantic
What people are saying
Book club turned literary series, festival & podcast 📚 Founder @guidetoglo ✨ ON GIRLHOOD anthology out now 📖 #WellReadBlackGirl
This year I returned to Zora Neale Hurston over & over again. We can't wait to celebrate her legendary work in 2022 ❤️ pre-order "You Don’t Know Us Negroes And Other Essays", along w/ the #ZoraNealeHurston Boxed Set via @AmistadBooks: https://t.co/0JHk8U2FIU #wellreadblackgirl https://t.co/vDaKDbfhH7
Amistad, a division of HarperCollins in the HarperOne Group, is the oldest imprint devoted to books by and about Black people throughout the diaspora.
✨ Now in paperback ✨ Happy publication week to YOU DON'T KNOW US NEGROES AND OTHER ESSAYS by Zora Neale Hurston! "The lyrical and uncompromising prose in this collection offers a window into the world of one of our greatest literary minds.” — Vulture https://t.co/J9x1RHshVI