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ZORA'S
ROOTS: Barnard College Premieres PBS Documentary
on the Life of Zora Neale Hurston '28
updated
04.02.08
Pearl
Ings as Zora Neale Hurston in Zora's
Roots |
New York,
NY - On April 4, Barnard College celebrates alumna Zora Neale
Hurston's'28 legacy as a writer, folklorist and anthropologist
with a premiere screening of Zora's Roots, a new documentary
that will air on PBS stations throughout the month of April.
Paying tribute to the most prolific woman writer of the Harlem
Renaissance, the film traces Hurston's life and work from
her childhood in the all-black township of Eatonville, Florida,
to her days as a Barnard student in New York City, to her
anthropologic field work in Honduras and Haiti, and eventually
back to Florida, where she died penniless and was buried in
an unmarked grave.
The screening
will begin at 3:30 p.m. in Lehman Auditorium, located at 202
Altschul Hall, Barnard College, West 117th Street and Broadway.
Afterwards, writer and director Tom Lowe of Eagle Productions,
and Barnard English Professor Monica Miller, who appears in
the film,will lead a discussion with the audience.
"Barnard
College is a perfect venue for the premiere screening of this
film. Zora integrated Barnard and, reciprocally, Barnard integrated
Zora with an intellectual foundation and a thirst for knowledge
that she used throughout her adventure-filled life,"
said Lowe. "I'm very glad that Zora's story now leads
back to Barnard."
During
the Roaring Twenties, Hurston was central to Harlem's evolving
literary scene alongside Langston Hughes and Wallace Thurman.
She was Barnard College's first black graduate, and her studies
in anthropology contributed to a lifelong exploration of language,
culture and the African American experience. More than 40
years after her death in 1960, Hurston's writing remains an
integral piece of America's literary fabric. In addition to
her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, which has been
cited as one of the 100 greatest literary works of all time,
she is renowned for her journalistic, cinematic and non-fiction
work.
The event
will take place as part of a celebration commemorating the
first fifteen
years of Barnard's Africana Studies program. "Zora
would have 'whooped' with joy about this event," said
Miller. "Her courage and determination to look at black
culture with an analytical eye enabled her to express so beautifully
the richness of the culture, its complex history and diasporic
nature. Celebrating Barnard's first black alumna and its black
studies program together makes a lot of sense."
Zora's
Roots will air on PBS stations nationwide beginning April
18. For local listings, visit pressroom.pbs.org/programs/zoras_roots
For media
inquiries, contact Alyssa Vine at 212-854-2037 or avine@barnard.edu.
Admission
is free.
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