91桃色

Noted Scholar on Zora Neale Hurston to Speak at Marx Library

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Posted on January 31, 2024

Joy Washington

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The 91桃色 Common Read program will host a discussion on 鈥淒renched in Light: Zora Neale Hurston and the Politics of the Archive鈥� led by Dr. Autumn Womack on Tuesday, Feb. 6, at 4 p.m. in the Marx Library Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public. A reception will be held immediately following the event.

Womack鈥檚 talk will focus on the 2023-2024 Common Read book selection 鈥淏arracoon,鈥� which was originally completed in 1931 but not published until 2018. The book is based on a series of interviews by Hurston with West African-born Cudjo Lewis, originally named Oluale Kossola. He is considered the last survivor of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and resided in the community of Africatown in Mobile until he died in 1935.

鈥淏arracoon鈥� documents a first-hand experience of the journey of the last known ship to bring enslaved people to the United States.

鈥淲e are fortunate to have Dr. Autumn Womack of Princeton University joining us for the keynote event this year, which celebrates Hurston's 鈥淏arracoon,鈥� said Dr. Ellen Burton Harrington, co-chair of the Common Read Common World committee. 鈥淒r. Womack is a noted scholar on Zora Neale Hurston and will elaborate on the significance of Hurston's work and her rich legacy.鈥�

Womack, associate professor of African American Studies and English, specializes in late 19th and early 20th century African American literary culture. She is the author of 鈥淭he Matter of Black Living: The Aesthetic Experiment of Racial Data, 1880-1930,鈥� which was awarded the Modern Language Association鈥檚 2023 William Sanders Scarborough Prize and was a finalist for the Modern Studies Association鈥檚 First Book Prize.鈥�

Womack has also been published in several volumes including 鈥淎merican Literary History,鈥� 鈥淲omen and Performance, Black Camera: An International Film Journal,鈥� 鈥淛19,鈥� and 鈥淭he Paris Review of Books.鈥�

The Common Read program is hosting several events this spring semester. This year鈥檚 selected book, 鈥淏arracoon,鈥� is being read and used in classroom discussions.

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