Name/Title
Writing race : The Florida Federal Writers' Project and racial identity, 1935-1943Entry/Object ID
Library.2103Description
vi, 90 pages. : 28 cm
Writing race the Florida Federal Writers' Project and racial identity, 1935-1943 by Angela E. Tomlinson.
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2008. Advisor: Elna C. Green, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of History.
Available online at http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-1280
Title and description from dissertation home page.
Florida State University Libraries. Electronic theses, treaties, and dissertations.
Contents: What is an American?: Conceptions of culture and identity in the early twentieth century -- The Florida Federal Writers' Project and the African American -- The Florida Federal Writers' Project and construction of racial identities -- Conclusion -- Appendix -- Bibliography -- Biographical sketch.
Includes discussion of the Florida Negro Unit based in Jacksonville and an in-depth study entitled "The Florida Negro" written and revised primarily by Martin Richardson and edited by Stetson Kennedy. This title included 2 chapters "Slave Days in Florida" and "Sidelights in Slavery" that were based on information taken from interviews with former slaves such as Margaret Nickerson and Mama Duck. Turpentine camps are discussed in the title "Florida: A Guide".
Abstract: In the late 1930s, the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration employed thousands of out-of-work writers and other white-collar professionals. Although publication of a comprehensive guidebook for each state was the main task of the FWP, project writers also traveled their respective states collecting life histories, interviewing former slaves, and compiling local histories and ethnographic studies. As a result, the work of the FWP entailed much more than preparation of travel books, for taken as a whole, its writings represented an attempt to craft a new portrait of America and its people.
Like many other New Deal programs, the FWP was a product of the liberal, progressive intellectual community that had emerged at the turn of the twentieth century. By the 1930s, this community, influenced by concepts of cultural pluralism, cosmopolitanism, and cultural relativism, was engaged in an ongoing discourse on redefining American identity and culture to include a broader spectrum of the American people. These concepts also influenced many of the national officers of the FWP, who wanted the project to present a more inclusive depiction of America that celebrated the country's diversity.
As this thesis demonstrates, however, this goal broke down at the state level, particularly in the South, which was deeply committed to Jim Crow segregation in the 1930s. An examination of both published and unpublished writings of the Florida Federal Writers' Project, including Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State and The Florida Negro, reveals that where race was concerned, traditional biases and prejudices trumped the national office's more liberal ideology. As a result, despite the efforts of liberal members of the Florida staff, such as Zora Neale Hurston and Stetson Kennedy, and the editorial oversight of the national office, the Florida FWP ultimately failed to provide three-dimensional, unbiased portraits of the state's African-American and mixed-race populations... author abstractCollection
LibraryLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
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DissertationNomenclature Primary Object Term
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Literary WorksNomenclature Class
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Category 08: Communication ObjectsSearch Terms
Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Florida., Slavery -- Florida -- History., Corse, Carita Doggett, 1892-1978., Hurston, Zora Neale., Kennedy, Stetson., Muse, Viola., Federal Writers' Project.Publication Details
Author
Tomlinson, Angela E.Edition
spiral boundPublisher
FSU Digital LibraryPlace Published
* Untyped Place Published
Tallahassee, Fla.Call No.
F 311 .T6 2008