Mules and Me
By Zora Neale Hurston

In the late 1920s, Hurston traveled to Florida and Louisiana; the result of those trips is this collection of folktales, with a few spirituals and hoodoo remedies printed in the back. I'm from a rural area in the South. My people celebrate language, storytelling, and superstitious rituals born of our folklore in ways similar to those Hurston chronicles. The most remarkable thing, though, was seeing our language in print: It inspired me to start writing.