NEH Hurston Workshop - Jump at the Sun: Zora Neale Hurston and her Eatonville Roots

The Florida Humanities Council (FHC) invites educators from across the United States to join distinguished historians, folklorists, architectural historians, and literary scholars for a week-long workshop: Jump at the Sun: Zora Neale Hurston and her Eatonville Roots. Just ten miles north of Orlando, Eatonville lies in the shadow of the world’s largest theme park. Surrounded by five lakes and acres of orange groves, the oldest incorporated black municipality in the United States is where Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960), writer, folklorist, anthropologist, and arguably the most significant collector and interpreter of Southern African-American culture spent her childhood. It was a “pure Negro town…where the only white folks were those who passed through,” Hurston wrote about the town, which provided the folktales, characters, and events that inspired her literary works and folklore expeditions.


Logistics

When
Each workshop begins on Sunday afternoon and ends the following Saturday around noon. On the application, please indicate your order of preference regarding weeks that you would like to attend.

Week 1: June 15–21
Week 2: June 22–28
Week 3: June 29–July 5

Where
The workshops will take place on the campus of Rollins College, a liberal arts college situated in Central Florida. The tree-lined campus, with its Spanish Mediterranean-style buildings, is nestled in the quaint community of Winter Park along the shores of Lake Virginia. Founded in 1885, it is the oldest recognized college in Florida and is located only minutes away from Eatonville and Maitland, sites of two daylong field trips. At Rollins, participants will have access to a modern library and up-to-date computer facilities. For more information about the campus, visit their website at http://www.rollins.edu/.

Who
This program is open to public, private, and home-school teachers, and to selected school personnel. (See the application information for more details.) Teachers and administrators from all grade levels and disciplines (e.g., history, social studies, literature, foreign languages, theatre, art, music, science, and mathematics) may apply.

Cost
Each participant will receive a stipend of $500 to help cover the costs of food, lodging, books, and other materials. Single-occupancy dorm rooms with dormitory-style bathrooms are available at Rollins College, our host institution, for $30 a night. Workshop participants will be charged approximately $135 for a campus meal plan for the entire week, plus an occasional meal off-campus. Books and materials will cost up to $50 per person, and a college ID will cost $3. With participants’ consent, FHC will retain these costs – approximately $370 -- directly from the stipend; the remainder will be paid at the workshop. Additional travel funds are available for participant travel on a case-by-case basis and will be paid at the conclusion of the workshop.

Application
For detailed application information and instructions, visit index.cfm/fuseaction/Teachers.Zora_Application_Information