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The Sanctified Church
Copyright 1981 Turtle Island Foundation
107 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1981
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592 people want to read
About the author
Zora Neale Hurston
188 books5,571 followersNovels, including
Their Eyes Were Watching God
(1937), and nonfiction writings of American folklorist Zora Neale Hurston give detailed accounts of African American life in the South.
In 1925, Hurston, one of the leaders of the literary renaissance, happening in Harlem, produced the short-lived literary magazine Fire!! alongside Langston Hughes and Wallace Thurman shortly before she entered Barnard College. This literary movement developed into the Harlem renaissance.
Hurston applied her Barnard ethnographic training to document African American folklore in her critically acclaimed book Mules and Men alongside fiction Their Eyes Were Watching God . She also assembled a folk-based performance dance group that recreated her Southern tableau with one performance on Broadway.
People awarded a Guggenheim fellowship to Hurston to travel to Haiti and conduct research on conjure in 1937. Her significant work ably broke into the secret societies and exposed their use of drugs to create the Vodun trance, also a subject of study for fellow dancer-anthropologist Katherine Dunham, then at the University of Chicago.
In 1954, the Pittsburgh Courier assigned Hurston, unable to sell her fiction, to cover the small-town murder trial of Ruby McCollum, the prosperous black wife of the local lottery racketeer, who had killed a racist white doctor. Hurston also contributed to Woman in the Suwanee County Jail , a book by journalist and civil rights advocate William Bradford Huie.
In 1925, Hurston, one of the leaders of the literary renaissance, happening in Harlem, produced the short-lived literary magazine Fire!! alongside Langston Hughes and Wallace Thurman shortly before she entered Barnard College. This literary movement developed into the Harlem renaissance.
Hurston applied her Barnard ethnographic training to document African American folklore in her critically acclaimed book Mules and Men alongside fiction Their Eyes Were Watching God . She also assembled a folk-based performance dance group that recreated her Southern tableau with one performance on Broadway.
People awarded a Guggenheim fellowship to Hurston to travel to Haiti and conduct research on conjure in 1937. Her significant work ably broke into the secret societies and exposed their use of drugs to create the Vodun trance, also a subject of study for fellow dancer-anthropologist Katherine Dunham, then at the University of Chicago.
In 1954, the Pittsburgh Courier assigned Hurston, unable to sell her fiction, to cover the small-town murder trial of Ruby McCollum, the prosperous black wife of the local lottery racketeer, who had killed a racist white doctor. Hurston also contributed to Woman in the Suwanee County Jail , a book by journalist and civil rights advocate William Bradford Huie.
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August 9, 2011(FROM JACKET)"The Sanctified Church"is a collection of Hurston's ground-breaking essays on Afro-American folklore, legend, popular mythology, and, in particular, the unique spiritual character of the Southern Black Christian Church. Along with preserving the customs, music, speech and humor of rural Black America, "The Sanctified Church" introduces us to such extraordinary figures as Mother Catherine, a matriarchal founder of a highly personal Voodoo Christian sect; Uncle Monday, healer, conjurer and powerful herb doctor; and High John de Conquer, the trickster/shaman figure of freedom and laughter still honored in parts of rural Black America today. A pioneering ethnographer and folklore scholar, the great Zora Neale Hurston captured the exuberance, vitality and genius of Black culture with a vividness and authority unmatched by any other writer.
April 7, 2011
i love her books I collect them.
March 2, 2026
Book Review: The Sanctified Church by Zora Neale Hurston
The Sanctified Church isn’t a traditional narrative story. it’s a collection of Hurston’s essays and observations about African American religious life, especially the vibrant worship practices of sanctified or “holy” church communities in the South. Hurston introduces us to real and folkloric characters like Mother Catherine, a matriarchal founder of her own spirited sect; Uncle Monday, a healer and conjurer; and High John de Conqueror, a freedom‑spirit figure celebrated in folktale tradition. Through songs, sermons, dances, and beliefs, we get a window into how faith, culture, humor, and ritual intersect in ways that are deeply human and richly musical.
What I really loved about this collection is Hurston’s voice. She doesn’t just describe, she brings you into the room. You can almost hear the tambourines, the call‑and‑response shouts, the laughter mixed with prayer. There’s joy and intensity in the way she captures these spiritual practices, and she doesn’t flatten them into stereotypes, she shows them as lived experiences with depth and rhythm. Her curiosity and respect for the people she writes about make each page feel like you’re listening to a friend who loves what she’s sharing.
The lack of a traditional plot or central character might make this feel unfamiliar if you’re expecting a “story” with a beginning‑middle‑end. It’s more like stepping into a world through snapshots, voices, and moments. That means some readers may wish for a stronger narrative thread or more context for each figure introduced. But once you lean into the wonder of the communities she describes, that’s part of the charm, it feels more like being there than being told a tale.
Overall, I’m giving The Sanctified Church ⭐⭐⭐⭐. It’s not a page‑turner in the traditional sense, but it’s lively, enlightening, and full of personality. You can feel the music and energy Hurston observed, and her writing makes the sanctified church come alive in a way that feels joyful, complex, and very human.
Tropes
• Cultural tradition
• Folklore and myth
• Vibrant religious ritual
• Music and dance as spiritual expression
The Sanctified Church isn’t a traditional narrative story. it’s a collection of Hurston’s essays and observations about African American religious life, especially the vibrant worship practices of sanctified or “holy” church communities in the South. Hurston introduces us to real and folkloric characters like Mother Catherine, a matriarchal founder of her own spirited sect; Uncle Monday, a healer and conjurer; and High John de Conqueror, a freedom‑spirit figure celebrated in folktale tradition. Through songs, sermons, dances, and beliefs, we get a window into how faith, culture, humor, and ritual intersect in ways that are deeply human and richly musical.
What I really loved about this collection is Hurston’s voice. She doesn’t just describe, she brings you into the room. You can almost hear the tambourines, the call‑and‑response shouts, the laughter mixed with prayer. There’s joy and intensity in the way she captures these spiritual practices, and she doesn’t flatten them into stereotypes, she shows them as lived experiences with depth and rhythm. Her curiosity and respect for the people she writes about make each page feel like you’re listening to a friend who loves what she’s sharing.
The lack of a traditional plot or central character might make this feel unfamiliar if you’re expecting a “story” with a beginning‑middle‑end. It’s more like stepping into a world through snapshots, voices, and moments. That means some readers may wish for a stronger narrative thread or more context for each figure introduced. But once you lean into the wonder of the communities she describes, that’s part of the charm, it feels more like being there than being told a tale.
Overall, I’m giving The Sanctified Church ⭐⭐⭐⭐. It’s not a page‑turner in the traditional sense, but it’s lively, enlightening, and full of personality. You can feel the music and energy Hurston observed, and her writing makes the sanctified church come alive in a way that feels joyful, complex, and very human.
Tropes
• Cultural tradition
• Folklore and myth
• Vibrant religious ritual
• Music and dance as spiritual expression
January 11, 2009
It's difficult for a modern person to appreciate the true genius of ZNH's work, nearly a century after she began her anthropological magic. It's easy to take for granted, or even be "over" the colloquial speech patterns written phonetically, the spotlights on obscure-but-fascinating folks. It's easy to forget she was an academic, and these are her reports.
Reading this made me crave more. Thankfully, more is available.
Reading this made me crave more. Thankfully, more is available.
May 2, 2022
This was a very stimulating little collection of short pieces about colored life in the old South. Not a comprehensive study, nor a work of academic ethnography, this is rather a group of journalistic essays, each describing an aspect of life or a legendary character. Some of the latter are among the most interesting; imaginary figures that the slaves used to keep their spirits up, individuals whom the white man could not defeat and dominate, or who were in touch with the realm of the supernatural, e.g. Uncle Monday, High John de Conquer, and Daddy Mention. Mother Catherine is another wise and spooky figure, but she seems to be delineated from real life. The other pieces in the book examine cultural aspects of the black experience, with the emphasis placed primarily on the black church and the unique quality and characteristics of African American spiritual expression. A book well worth reading, and one that makes me curious about Hurston's fiction (for which she is better known). Strangely enough, I don't think that Prof. Douglas spent any time discussing Hurston's fiction, although I have no idea why.
November 18, 2020
Anthropological trip through the spirit of the Black church in beautifully composed articles. From root workers and conjurers to the full text of a sermon, Hurston goes all in on the experience of the spiritual and the elements of worship for African Americans. Brief book, essential history.
February 5, 2024
There is something so lovably engaging about this woman’s work — over the years whenever I’ve read her various writing — in whatever book she is found to occupy herself with — she draws one in, captivates and provokes affection with her researched and shared stories.
December 13, 2009
Now here's some beautiful prose, sharp observation, humor, and a lively sense of commitment.
August 18, 2022
I read every word in this book and I believe that some of it may be written by Zora Neale Hurston. It is compiled by Toni Cade Bambara who is not an academic but a person who works in TV. From the first page, I know there must be a lot of mistakes. Under "Some Forward Remarks", Bambara has written that Zora's grave is in Eatonville, Fla. with a marker erected by Alice Walker.
Zora Neale Hurston's grave is in Fort Pierce, Florida and has the marker erected by Alice Walker who searched out the grave. Hurston was born and raised in Eatonville - a community hundreds of miles from Fort Pierce. I live in Fort Pierce, Florida and have been to this gravesite. Such an egregious error makes me doubt the validity of this book. What else did Bambara get wrong? What else did Bambara add to Hurston's actual writings? What else did Bambara leave out? The editor is not to be trusted.
Furthermore, this book is very dated now. It was published in 1981 and the material about music, churches, medical information, etc. is not so relevant today. If you want actual information, go to materials by actual researchers who write accurately.
Zora Neale Hurston's grave is in Fort Pierce, Florida and has the marker erected by Alice Walker who searched out the grave. Hurston was born and raised in Eatonville - a community hundreds of miles from Fort Pierce. I live in Fort Pierce, Florida and have been to this gravesite. Such an egregious error makes me doubt the validity of this book. What else did Bambara get wrong? What else did Bambara add to Hurston's actual writings? What else did Bambara leave out? The editor is not to be trusted.
Furthermore, this book is very dated now. It was published in 1981 and the material about music, churches, medical information, etc. is not so relevant today. If you want actual information, go to materials by actual researchers who write accurately.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews