''Dust Tracks on a Road'' is the 1942

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

of black American writer and anthropologist

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on Hoodoo (spirituality), hoodoo. The most ...

It begins with Hurston's childhood in the black community of

Eatonville, Florida Eatonville is a town in Orange County, Florida, United States, six miles north of Orlando. It is part of the Orlando– Kissimmee metropolitan statistical area. Incorporated on August 15, 1887, it was one of the first self-governing all-black ...

, then covers her education at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

where she began as a fiction writer, having two stories published under the guidance of Charles S. Johnson. It also covers her anthropological work under

Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical ...

that led to her study ''

Mules and Men ''Mules and Men'' is a 1935 autoethnographical collection of African-American folklore collected and written by anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. The book explores stories she collected in two trips: one in Eatonville and Polk County, Florida, an ...

'' (1935)."Dust Tracks on a Road." ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition''. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Accessed 28 Sep. 2012. ''The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature'' says "its factual information is often unreliable, its politics are contradictory, and it barely discusses Hurston's literary career". As is the case of most of her writing, there is little discussion of issues of race and segregation.

Writing and publication

The publishers forced extensive changes on the book, making Hurston remove a lengthy attack on

American imperialism American imperialism refers to the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, and media influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conquest ...

in Asia; she was also required to tone down sexually explicit anthropological content and remove some

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

lous passages. This resulted in a work that appeared not to condemn America's mistreatment of ethnic minorities and was consequently attacked for pandering to white audiences. More recent editions have attempted to insert deleted passages and reconstruct it closer to Hurston's intentions.

Reception

It received more negative criticism than most of her other works:

Robert Hemenway Robert Emery Hemenway (August 10, 1941 – July 31, 2015) was the 16th chancellor of the University of Kansas (KU). Biography Hemenway was born on August 10, 1941, in Nebraska. He arrived at KU in 1995 as the successor to interim chancellor Del S ...

said it "probably harmed Hurston's reputation" and

Alice Walker Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker (born February 9, 1944) is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. In 1982, she became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was aw ...

, otherwise an admirer, was also critical. Harold Preece, reviewing it in 1943 condemned it as "the tragedy of a gifted, sensitive mind, eaten up by an egotism fed on the patronizing admiration of the dominant world". However, Pierre A. Walker has suggested it represents a subversion of traditional autobiography through its fragmentary approach and rejection of the idea of a consistent personality. Despite its questionable attitude to truth, and its many lacunae, it has been praised for its literary quality; ''The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature'' says "passages in ''Dust Tracks'' are as engaging as any Hurston wrote".

Legacy

An excerpt from the book was recited in the film ''August 28: A Day in the Life of a People'', which debuted at the opening of the Smithsonian's

National Museum of African American History and Culture The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in December 2003 and opened its permanent home in ...

in 2016.

Awards

It won the 1943

Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...

for its contribution to race relations."Dust Tracks on a Road." ''The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature'', ''Oxford Reference''. . . n.d. Accessed 28 Sep. 2012.

References

External links