In the following excerpt, Crosland alerts readers of "The Eatonville Anthology" to editorial errors in one of the story's sections, which Hurston never corrected due to the story's lack of attention in her lifetime.

Several times during Zora Neale Hurston's career, the printed texts of her works did not reflect her exact intentions. These textual corruptions hurt her reputation as a creative artist. Unfortunately, the textual problems that recurred during her lifetime have also haunted the posthumous revival of her reputation begun by Alice Walker in 1975.

Zora Neale Hurston first published "The Eatonville Anthology" serially in the 1926 September, October, and November issues of the Messenger. The work consists of fourteen parts variously based on folk tales, jokes, or Hurston's childhood memories. This composite communicates the black ethos which nurtured the author in her early years.

The thirteenth piece in "The Eatonville Anthology," published at the end of...