PROJECT MOSAIC: ZORA NEALE HURSTON AFRICA AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES IN THE DIGITAL AGE

JULIAN C. CHAMBLISSDEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

COORDINATOR, AFRICA AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES PROGRAM

NITLE Symposium : Inventing the FutureLocal Collections and Liberal Education in History

Arlington, Virginia- April 16th-17th, 2012

The Social Revolution (?)

Social Confusion

African-American Experience

Gilded Age, Progressive Era, and 1920s

I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow damned up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and who feelings are hurt about it. Even in the helter-skelter skirmish of my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world – I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife. Zora Neale Hurston, How it feels to be Colored Me (1928)

The Goal

The goal of Project Mosaic is to promote synergistic dialogue among faculty and enhance student understanding of the African-American experience. Using the prolific work of Zora Neale Hurston as a central theme, the project brought together faculty from Anthropology, History, Art and Art History, and Education to strengthen the Africa and African-American Studies (AAAS) Program at Rollins.

The Grant

Funded through an Associated Colleges of the South Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Renewal Grant.

Grant Participants Julian Chambliss, History, Claire Strom, History, Ashley Kitsler,

Anthropology, Dawn Roe, Art History, Robert Moore, Anthropology, Susan Libby, Art History, Scott Hewitt, Education , Creston Davis, Religion, Rollins College, “Project Mosaic: Zora Neale Hurston-A Multidisciplinary Exploration of African American Culture”