Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-Tales from the Gulf States

By Zora Neale Hurston

Book Overview

A recently discovered collection of folktales celebrating African American oral tradition, community, and faith..."splendidly vivid and true."--New York Times

Every Tongue Got to Confess is an extensive volume of African American folklore that Zora Neale Hurston collected on her travels through the Gulf States in the late 1920s.

The bittersweet and often hilarious taleswhich range from longer narratives about God, the Devil, White Folk, and Mistaken Identity to witty one-linersreveal attitudes about faith, love, family, slavery, race, and community. Together, this collection of nearly 500 folktales weaves a vibrant tapestry that celebrates the African American life in the rural South and represent a major part of Zora Neale Hurstons literary legacy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060934549
• ISBN13: 9780060934545
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Amistad Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

FUNNY BOOK.

It's a collection of tales featuring Brer Rabbit and many other critters. Plus there are numerous tales about people. Hurston collected the stories in the 1920s, and the language used is slave vernacular with plentiful occurrences of 'nigger.' I grew up with the language and enjoyed reading it and hearing it in my mind. I find it odd that Joel Chandler Harris is villified for collecting the old Brer Rabbit tales, and Hurston is applauded for doing the same thing. And I'm glad that both people preserved these treasures. The tales are funny and delightful. Back then people were able to laugh at themselves.

Telling the truth and shaming the devil...Zora's Way!

It was said from those that knew her best, that African-American folklore was Zora Neale Hurston?s first love. The ability to manifest in, and excel within the margins of her own people?swapping lies, telling tales, and giving unique meaning to life from the backhand side. Thus, if any part of her legacy is to prevail, one should pay close attention to this side of her that I feel truly helped to define her writing style. No doubt, the genesis of it all goes back to her Eatonville, Florida roots sitting on the porch of the neighborhood story listening to the older men adhere to the aforementioned. Subsequently as a Barnard student of Anthropology under the guidance of Franz Boaz, she embarked in 1927 on a two-year effort to collect samples of African-American folklore. This sets the stage for Negro Tales From The Gulf States, which can boast of an interesting evolution. This is a book written by Zora that was almost an afterthought, until recently discovered after lying in obscurity for nearly 30 years. All of this time, it was stored in a basement at Columbia University, and 20 more at the Smithsonian before coming to light at the urging of the author?s estate and others.What we have here in borrowing Zora?s own words ? ?authenticity to preserve the tale-tellers way of speaking?savoring the boiled-down juice of human living?. The book is well written and organized by subject. Read it and revel in how the author used and presented vernacular that would be recognized today as Ebonics?everyday idiomatic expressionism. You will witness improvisational wordplay and given an apt explanation of how these folktales were collected, lost, found, and examined for the deep significance they hold today. These lost southern tales are brought to life by Zora?s commanding use of syntax mixed with a sense of urgency. Most of them are infused with humorous stories making a point that we can all identify with. She makes it pointedly clear that folktales were a direct link to our ancestral background, and served a purpose. I marveled at how she was able to use stories made famous by others in how they were reworked and related from a black point of view, giving them a special cross-cultural ring. For instance, to the story of a woman who promises the devil that she will break up a marriage in exchange for a pair of shoes, or how she gives reasons why God gave women keys to the bedroom, the kitchen, and the cradle. You will die laughing, and you will definitely be amused by the punch lines and the Zora penchant for comedic timing. If there?s a reason to want to understand folktales told from the mind of this unique storyteller, you?d want to be enlightened in digesting this type of wit that the author seem to make timeless. In accumulating this body of work, Hurston clearly placed as much emphasis on imagination as on truism. Often she got both. With all the other offering of late alluding to Zora Neale Hurston, you might as well add this book to your collection.

Like a Window to the Past

If only Zora Neale Hurston could've published this book during her lifetime! Luckily her papers containing her research were rediscoveredand we now have this gorgeous collection of stories. Some of them were familiar to me from listening to my grandparents tell tall tales, others were completely new. These stories are funny, frightening and enlightening. Our elders and ancestors were amazing people with a tough and even cynical sense of humor. If we are lucky more of Hurston's research will be found and more will be published. Kimberley Wilson, author of 11 Things Mama Never Told You About Men

Excellent collection of Black Folklore

If you grew up hearing older folks get together and swap wild stories, or if you have an academic interest in folklore, then this is for you! Essentially, the great Folklorist Zora Neale Hurston spent 1928 and 29 among rural Blacks in Florida and Alabama jotting down their folk tales and witty sayings. Being a Black Southerner herself gave her an insider's access that made her interviewees comfortable in sharing with her. The final manuscript, "Negro Folktales of the Gulf States" remained unpublished till now. Some of these tales were published in 1935 with a framework story of Miss Hurston's adventures among her interviewees entitled "Mules and Men." But here, the stories exist in their orignial, uncut form without a framework story. Once the modern reader becomes accustomed to the printed approximation of Southern African-American dialect, you can sit back and enjoy the folk wisdom and humorous tales. So imagine that Grandpa, Uncle Wille, and all the others are gathered around your porch with a pitcher of lemonade on a pleasant afternoon and enjoy this African-American equivalent to "Aesop's Fables" and "The Arabian Nights."