USF scholar examines Florida's black literature history

When the month of black history comes to an end, the professor of English at the University of Südflorida and Frank E. Duckwall Professor for Florida Studies Julie Buckner Armstrong discusses Florida's black literature history.

Armstrong has been with USF for 24 years. A research scientist of civil rights and southern literature. She received the Chancellor Prize for Excellence in Research and Creative Activities at the USF Campus Campus.

What can you tell us about the history of Florida's black literary art?

Florida has a rich black literary history. Maybe the earliest published work is Briton Hammon's “a story of unusual suffering”An account from 1760 from a enslaved man. Another early work in Florida is Albery Allon Whitmans's Twasintas seminols or the rape of Floridafrom 1890. The literature of Schwarzer Florida began to explode in early 20^TH Century with writers like how Zora Neal Hurstonwhich have published several books in the state and are also based on their anthropological research, and James Weldon JohnsonAnother key figure of the Harlem Renaissance and author of works such as “Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing” (known as “Negro National Anthem”). “Autobiography of a former man “and “God's trombone. ”

It is worth noting that Florida's black history goes back further than the literary heritage. The first black people in the historical recording include Estaban, one of the four survivors of the unfortunate Narvaez expedition to Florida. Three of these survivors (all except Estaban) published reports on the expedition, the most famous was that of Cabeza de Vaca. A contemporary retelling of this story from the perspective of Estaban (whose real name Mustafa al-Zamori, a Muslim) can be found in Laila Lalami's Roman 2014, the Moor report.

It is also difficult to disguise Florida's black history from its local history. One of the reasons why Pedro Menendez came to St. Augustine was to stop the river of enslaved people who flee from Florida. Some of these people mixed with local groups (i.e. black seminols) and lived in chestnut brown communities (a local example is Angola, near Sarasota). Another was Fort Mosesin North Florida. Other enslaved people fled into the Caribbean through what is called so Salzwasser -underground Railroad. Most of these early figures wrote or had no access to publication locations, so we have no literature from it.

How did the early poets/writers in Florida contribute to American literature? – – Especially Zora Neal Hurston?

The most important contribution comes from Hurston and Johnson, the main characters of the Harlem Renaissance, the bloom of black art, literature and culture, which took place in early 20TH Century. Hurston was an anthropologist and productive writer of short stories, novels, non -fiction books from the first person and journalism. Her research helped keep a treasure contracts with black colloquial language, including songs, folk stories and the dialect examples that can be seen in their fiction. She was one of the first American writers who spoke to the taboo subject of domestic violence in their short story “Sweat” and in her novel “Observe their eyes God”. “We see one of the earliest representations of black romantic love and a female protagonist who takes the” journey of a hero “.

Hurston was a real pioneer as a person and writer. Johnson gets less nationwide attention than Hurston, but is just as important. He worked on one of the earliest anthologies of black literature. The book of American Negro densityPublished in 1922. I mentioned his other works above. He was also a activist (secretary of the NAACP) and diplomat and served as a US consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua. Gwendolyn Bennett (lived here) and Langston Hughes (wrote poems that are connected to the history of civil rights in Florida – ballads about Sam Solomon and Harry T. Moore are on the other Renaissance numbers of Harlem, which are connected to the state. ).

What do you want people to know about Florida's black history in terms of literature?

The most important thing I want is that Florida's black literary history runs back hundreds of years and also extends beyond the state to include what literary scholars call “golf consciousness” or a “district-Caribbean” identity.

We see that in the figures mentioned above such as Hammon, Hurston and Johnson – everyone saw themselves as part of a generally international black community. And we also see that in other writers connected to Florida such as Cuban-American Lydia Cabrera, Haitian-American Edwidge Danticat and Jamaican-American Jonathan Escoffery. What we are through this story, which is both deep and wide, is a feeling for the multifaceted wealth that is Florida's black literature.

What are your favorite works of Black History Literature?

Too hard to choose one! It is difficult not to love. “Her eyes watched God.” And James Weldon Johnson is one of my favorite floridians in history.

Any other thoughts?

There is a book that is worth checking, published by John Wharton Lowe, called “Black Hibiscus: African American and The Florida Imaginary” (University of Mississippi Press, 2024). It is a collection of scientific essays.
Please also tell your audience to look forward to a two-volume anthology of the 500-year history of Florida literature, which is published by Thomas Hallock, Benjamin Brothers and me. It will be a few years and not yet a title, but definitely in progress.

You can find more information in Julie Buchner Armstrong

 

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