Mules and Men

Mules and Men is a work of nonfiction published in 1935 by the American author Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston, a student of anthropology, used ethnographic research methods to collect and record Black folklore in the American South. Consisting of two parts, the work first details some folktales elicited directly from residents of rural folklore, and secondly describes several hoodoo practitioners in New Orleans. This book explores themes of establishing origins and the difference between honesty and the truth, while intimately and eclectically relaying stories taken from real people. This guide uses the Harper Perennial Modern Classics Edition from 2008, which contains a Foreword and Afterword that were added to the work in the 1990 edition.

Note: This book contains the use of racial slurs and epithets, including the use of the n-word.

Plot Summary

Beginning with a series of three introductions, Mules and Men is a nonfiction collection of folklore from the Black communities of the Deep South in the United States. The book is organized into two major parts, followed by a Glossary and Appendix that offer further insight and clarification to the main portions.