As a daughter of the conjure-rich black South, Zora also believed in mystical forces, and often felt attuned to them, as her soothsaying dreams proved. Though Mason’s money was generations old, Hurston saw in the blue-blooded woman someone who was, as she put it, “just as pagan as I.” Convinced that Mason’s interest in black culture was genuine, Zora immediately offered to take her to the Harlem church that she and Hughes liked to attend. The “primitivism” that Mason held in such high esteem flourished at this church, where worshipers sang God’s praises in a raw, unrehearsed way—and welcomed
...more
