Title

Crossing The Creek: The Literary Friendship Of Zora Neale Hurston And Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Abstract

On 6 July 1942, a ten-year-old boy accompanied his mother to a literary tea at the Castle Warden, a posh segregated hotel in St. Augustine, Florida. The boy, Donald Wilson, had been born to privilege and was used to mingling among St. Augustine's elite white society. But, on this hot July day, the guest of honor was not a white author-although a nationally recognized author was present-but a black woman, Zora Neale Hurston. Her host was the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of the best-selling novel The Yearling (1938). Wilson recalls the moment he saw Hurston. In his eyes, she was "a very beautiful person" and "absolutely brilliant." She and Rawlings appeared to be "great friends" and "spoke at great ease with each other" (Wilson interview). Rawlings's husband, Norton Baskin, also present, recounts how earlier that day he had directed his "colored bell boy" to escort Hurston to his and Rawlings's private apartment at the hotel when she arrived at 5 p.m. When she did not appear at the appointed time, Baskin called his wife to tell her that her guest had failed to show up. Rawlings replied: "Are you crazy? She's up here and if you know what's good for you, you better come on up; I've never had so much fun" (Boyd 351). Hurston, perhaps comprehending the racial tension her appearance at the segregated hotel may have caused, had sneaked up the back stairs in a maid's uniform. © 2010 by Anna Lillios.

Publication Date

12-1-2011

Publication Title

Crossing the Creek: The Literary Friendship of Zora Neale Hurston and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Number of Pages

1-198

Document Type

Article; Book Chapter

Personal Identifier

scopus

Socpus ID

84894971993 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84894971993

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