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Category: Zora Neale Hurston

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

No Depression Features Zora Neale Hurston

Posted by: Stephen Winick

We’re happy to announce a new venture in getting our stories out there! We’re working with No Depression, The Journal of Roots Music, which is published by the nonprofit Freshgrass Foundation.  They’ll be publishing a column called Roots in the Archive, featuring content from the American Folklife Center and Folklife Today, over at their website. …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

The Folklore and Folksong of Trains in America, Part One

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

Part two of this article is available at this link. Part One:  The Development of the Railroads The advent of railroads in the United States is part of the country’s coming-of-age story as an industrial power during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Because of this, trains and people associated with the developing railways became …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

Voices of African American Women

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

One reason I became interested in the study of folklife was to learn through the voices of peoples who are often under-represented in history. As this is the end of February, African American History Month, and March is Women’s History Month, it seems a good time to take a look at what African American women …

A man playing a guitar and singing to a close crowd of a dozen or so men and women

A Sampler of Caribbean American Recordings

Posted by: Stephanie Hall

Caribbean American Heritage Month is a relatively new commemorative month, first created in June, 2006. The American Folklife Center has many collections that document aspects of Caribbean cultures and some of these are available online. This essay can only touch on a few examples, but I hope it will provide ideas on how to explore …