Zora Told Countee: Hurston's Letter to Countee Cullen

As part of their "American Masters" series, PBS published a letter from Zora Neale Hurston to Countee Cullen. Besides addressing the writer's views on white liberals, segregation and Negro writers, it's beautifully written and full of Hurston's famous personality.

March 5, 1943

Dear Countee:

Thanks a million for your kind letter. I am always proud to have a word of praise from you because your friendship means a great deal to me. It means so much to me because I have never known you to make an insincere move, neither for personal gain, nor for malice growing out of jealousy of anyone else. Then too, you are my favorite poet now as always since you began to write. I have always shared your approach to art. That is, you have written from within rather than to catch the eye of those who were making the loudest noise for the moment. I know that hitch-hiking on band-wagons has become the rage among Negro artists for the last ten years at least, but I have never thumbed a ride and can feel no admiration for those who travel that way. I have pointed you out on numerous occasions as one whose integrity I respected, and whose example I wished to follow.

Head to PBS.org for the full text. Thanks to Dream Hampton for spreading the link via Twitter.

--Whitney Teal