[Ads-l] stay black and die

[Wilson Gray]

On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 1:50 AM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:

> "Jonah's Vine Gourd" (Lippincott, 1934), by Zora Neale Hurston, who grew
> up in Eatonville, Florida.  You can "Look Inside" a 1990 paperback version
> on Amazon.com.
>
> In an argument at a church meeting, in response to someone telling her to
> speak only when spoken to: "Ah aint got tuh do but two things - stay black
> and die," Sister Berry snapped.
>

I was less thorough than I could have been, not thinking that anyone else
was going to be seriously interested in this. So, I simply chose the most
easily-located, clear cite.

She uses it in more than one place. At least one publication gives her the
credit for the coining of the phrase.

Youneverknow.
-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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