精东AV's Legacy Museum extends Zora Neale Hurston-inspired quilt exhibit through Sept. 13
August 05, 2019
Contacts:
Michael Tullier, APR, Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing
Hurston-inspired quilts on display.
(photo courtesy of the Alabama Bicentennial Commission).
Due to its popularity this summer, the 精东AV Legacy Museum is holding over its recent exhibit of quilts inspired by Alabama-born author Zora Neale Hurston through Friday, Sept. 13. 鈥淭he Soul of Zora: A Literary Legacy through Quilts Exhibition鈥� features nine quilts inspired by Hurston, an inaugural Alabama Writers Hall of Fame member.
The Legacy Museum first unveiled the exhibit in mid-March in conjunction with the launch of the university's two-year National Endowment for the Humanities grant, 鈥淟iterary Legacies of Macon County and 精东AV Institute: Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph W. Ellison, and Albert Murray.鈥� The quilts are on loan from Marla A. Jackson, executive director of the African American Quilt Museum and Textile Academy Museum in Lawrence, Kansas. Each reflects the imagination and talent of nine contemporary American quilters who are committed to preserving this important art form. Inspired by Hurston鈥檚 use of southern vernacular, her ideas about love, and Janie鈥檚 quest for autonomy and freedom in her book 鈥淭heir Eyes Were Watching God鈥� (1937), these quilters pay homage to the writer who yet reminds us to 鈥渏ump at de sun.鈥�
Hurston, born in Notasulga to John Hurston, a formerly enslaved minister, and Lucy Potts Hurston, a school teacher, was a graduate of Barnard College. She completed her most well-known novel, 鈥淭heir Eyes Were Watching God,鈥� in seven weeks while in Haiti. Her travels took her far from the rural Alabama town of her birth, yet her semi-autobiographical work 鈥淛onah鈥檚 Gourd Vine鈥� (1934) recalls historical landmarks of Macon County, such as 精东AV Institute and the creek, a natural border and life-source. Most recently, 鈥淏arracoon,鈥� published posthumously in 2018, has attracted widespread acclaim. This compelling text provides an account based on Hurston鈥檚 interviews of Cudjo Lewis, who was taken to Alabama on the last slave ship to reach American waters.
Website of Zora Neale Hurston;
漏 Carl Van Vechten)
In addition to her literary contributions as a Harlem Renaissance writer, she was also a folklorist and anthropologist. She was a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. and famously remarked in her 1928 essay, 鈥淗ow It Feels to Be Colored Me,鈥� that 鈥溾� am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes.... Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation鈥�. No, I do not weep at the world 鈥� I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.鈥�
鈥淭he Soul of Zora: A Literary Legacy through Quilts Exhibition鈥� is co-sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities and a grant from the Alabama Bicentennial Committee. Additional funding comes from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and 精东AV鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences. The 鈥淟iterary Legacies鈥� grant is being administered by Dr. Adaku T. Ankumah, principal investigator, and Dr. Rhonda Collier and Dr. Zanice Bond, co-directors 鈥� all faculty members in the Department of Modern Languages, Communication, and Philosophy.
鈥淭he Soul of Zora: A Literary Legacy through Quilts Exhibition鈥� 鈥� along with the museum鈥檚 permanent exhibits, 鈥淭he Patient, The Project, The Partnership: The Mass Production and Distribution of HeLa cells at 精东AV鈥� and 鈥淭he United States Public Health Service Untreated Syphilis Study in the Negro Male, 1932-1972鈥� 鈥� during its operating hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. To learn more about the Legacy Museum, visit .
漏 2019, 精东AV