- Today on "Extra Credit," we visit the hometown of one of the greatest American writers of all time.

Plus, an Olympic gold medalist shares how a book taught her to never give up.

Stay tuned.

(upbeat music) Welcome to "Extra Credit," where we meet interesting people, explore new ideas, and discover fun places together.

I'm your host, Yash, and today we're focusing on literature.

First, let's take a trip to Florida to learn about Zora Neale Hurston, one of the greatest writers of all time.

(upbeat music) (dramatic music) ♪ Oh, Mama, come see that tome ♪ - Zora Neale Hurston was a quintessential, charismatic maverick.

She's really raw.

She's different from everybody else.

- This is the greatest thing I hear.

"Yeah, I heard about Eatonville.

"I know Zora.

"Zora from Eatonville!

"Oh, my gosh!"

- At one point she was the most prolific and well-read African-American woman of her time.

I think she's underrated, if anything, still.

(gentle music) - Well, you know, she was born in Alabama, Notasulga, Alabama, and her father moved the family when Hurston was very young.

- God knows what her family went through just moving, not knowing if they were going to be stopped, if they'd end up dead, being lynched.

But they made it here, in an atmosphere that was totally Black.

Everyone looked like her.

So I think it set the atmosphere for her to just think, dream, and write.

- She grew up in Eatonville, which is the oldest incorporated all Black township in the United States.

And she wrote, she wrote the story of Eatonville.

- Eatonville is so much a part of her cultural and literary narrative.

- She was a modernist, a realist.

She was trying to capture the authentic life of the people.

- She really wanted people to know what an amazing and valuable and vibrant culture she came from.

And I think she did that.

(jazzy music) - She wrote "Their Eyes Were Watching God" very quickly.

She wrote it after a romantic experience with a younger man.

- It is a book about African-American people within their own community and I think she's one of the earliest writers in America to really do that.

- [Nathiri] It is a tragedy of a love story.

- Janie is born in Alabama.

She comes to Eatonville with her family.

Her grandmother arranges a marriage with someone who treats her like a mule.

She leaves him for another man, who is like the founder of the town of Eatonville and he dies and then she ends up with a kind of a drifter type of guy.

- They are caught in the hurricane, the great hurricane of the late 1920s.

And he is bit by a rabid dog.

She has to kill him.

She goes to trial.

The white jury acquits her.

And so she tells her story to her good companion, Pheoby.

- It's not only a great story, but it's the language and the style that really makes it a great work of American literature.

- Anyone who works with words, you know, you respect the craft.

The craft that her writing represents in "Their Eyes Were Watching God."

- "Here was peace.

"She pulled in her horizon like a great fish-net.

"Pulled it from around the waist of the world "and draped it over her shoulder.

"So much of life in its meshes!

"She called in her soul to come and see."

What she does with narrative is really interesting.

Her characters are...

The dialect is challenging for people.

- She was not afraid to delve into the dialect.

But understanding the time period, African-Americans, Negroes, colored people did not want to be identified with dialect because white people said that dialect was just an indication of just how backward you people were.

(blues music) ♪ Hey, hey, hey you'll catch it dry ♪ ♪ Oh, the rooster ♪ - There were some members of the African-American community who wanted to show that works of literature were on the same par as other great modernists.

And they felt that dialect was a reversion to the past.

- So there were people, Richard Wright, sort of notoriously and famously among them, who felt that she was kowtowing and pandering to whites.

And she thought they were just angry and writing about the same thing over and over again.

And I think history is kind of borne her out, right?

- I think she needs to be ranked among the great American literary authors, including Hemingway, Fitzgerald.

I think she's up there with them.

- She is definitely a global icon.

You know, she really, she just would not give up.

- She's named in our hearts.

She's named in the minds of the people of Eatonville.

And when nobody can't say anything else, you can hear a kid say, "Was Zora from here?"

And I think that is royally rich, that her character allow it to be better than silver and gold.

(jazzy music) (upbeat music) - Hi, welcome to another episode of "First Chapter Friday."

My name is Lucy and, as always, I'm very excited to be here sharing a book with you today.

The book that I'm going to read from today is called "Before the Ever After" by Jacqueline Woodson.

And this is a novel written in verse, so I'll actually read a little, a few of the first pages, but it's not one chapter specifically.

And this is the story of a boy named ZJ, who is the son of a professional football player.

And his father, ZJ's father, is sort of like everybody's hero.

He's this great athlete and everyone in the community looks up to him and the neighborhood kids love him, he's just this beloved figure.

And that's sort of the before.

So the after is ZJ's life has been changing a little bit because his father has started to forget things.

Like really big things.

And so it makes life difficult.

His father gets angry quickly.

He's just not the same person that ZJ is used to and that everybody else looks up to.

So it's sort of this coming of age story for ZJ, where he has to recognize this change in his father and see where his father still is his father, but, you know, come to terms with the differences.

And it's a really powerful story.

I love the way Jacqueline Woodson writes and reading a novel in verse is a different way to get a story across.

It can be really immersive.

You just kind of get pulled in because it moves quickly.

So yeah, that's, I don't want to give away too much about how ZJ struggles with and comes to terms with the differences in his father, but, you know, it sort of makes an interesting point about, like, ZJ's father got injured multiple times playing football.

And this, the result of this is his loss of memory.

And so I think there's that piece too, of like, what happens when our heroes are also doing things that maybe are not good for them?

Like, why do we look up to who we look up to and what makes people heroes?

So, there are a lot of good questions in this book.

I really enjoyed it.

And, yeah, so I'm going to read a first, a few of the first sort of poems in "Before the Ever After" by Jacqueline Woodson.

Part one.

"1999.

"Memory Like a Movie.

"The memory goes like this: "Ollie's got the ball "and he's running across my yard "when Dad comes out of nowhere, "soft tackles him to the ground.

"Then everyone is cheering and laughing because "we didn't even know my dad was home.

"'I thought you had a game,' I say, grabbing him.

"It's a half hug, half tackle, but "the other guys, Darry and Daniel, hop on too "and Ollie's escaped, so he jumps "on top of all of us jumping on my dad.

"'Yeah, Mr. J.,' Darry says.

"'I thought we'd be watching you on TV tonight.'

"'Coach giving me a break,' my Daddy says.

"He climbs out from under, "shaking us off like we're feathers, not boys.

"'Ah man!'

Darry says.

"'Yeah,' we all say.

"'Ah man!'

"'Sometimes a player needs to rest,' Daddy says.

"He looks at each of us for a long time.

"A strange look.

"Like he's just now seeing us.

"Then he tosses the ball so far, "we can't even see it anymore.

"And my boy says, 'Ah man, you threw it too far!'

"While I go back behind the garage where "we have a whole bunch of footballs "waiting and ready "for when my daddy sends one into the abyss.

"Everybody's Looking for a Hero.

"Once, when I was a little kid, "this newscaster guy asked me if "my dad was my biggest hero.

"'No,' I said.

"'My dad's just my dad.'

"There was a crowd of newscasters circling around me, "all of them with their microphones aimed at my face.

"Maybe I was nervous, "I don't remember now.

"Maybe it was after his first Super Bowl win, his ring "new and shining on his finger.

"Me just a little kid, "so the ring was this whole glittering world, "gold and black and diamonds against my daddy's brown hand.

"I remember hearing the reporter say, "'Listen to those fans!

"'Looks like everybody's found their next great hero.'

"And now I'm thinking back to those times "when the cold wind whipped around me and Mom "as we sat wrapped in blankets, yelling Dad's name, "so close to the game, we could see the angry spit "spraying from the other team's coach's lips.

"So close, we could see the sweat on my daddy's neck.

"And all the people around us cheering, "all the people going around calling out his number, "calling out his name.

"'Zachariah 44!

"'Zachariah 44!

"'Is your daddy your hero?'

the newscaster had asked me.

"And all these years later, just like that day, I know "he's not my hero, "he's my dad, which means "he's my every single thing.

"Day After the Game.

"Day after the game "and Daddy gets out of bed slow.

"His whole body, he says, "is 223 pounds of pain "from toes to knees, from knees to ribs, "every single hit he took yesterday "remembered in the morning.

"Before the Ever After.

"Before the ever after, there was Daddy driving "to Village Ice Cream "on a Saturday night in July before preseason training.

"Before the ever after, there was Mom in the back seat "letting me ride up front, me and Daddy "having Man Time together "waving to everyone "who pointed at our car and said, 'That's him!'

"Before the ever after, the way people said "'That's him!'

sounded like a cheer.

"Before the ever after, the people pointing "were always smiling.

"Before the ever after, Daddy's hands didn't always tremble "and his voice didn't shake "and his head didn't hurt all the time.

"Before the ever after, there were picnics "on Sunday afternoons in Central Park "driving through the tunnel to get up to the city "me and Daddy making up songs.

"Before the ever after, there were sandwiches "on the grass near Strawberry Fields "chicken salad and barbecue beef "and ham with apples and Brie "there were dark chocolates with almonds and "milk chocolates with coconut "and fruit and us just laughing and laughing.

"Before the ever after, there was the three of us "and we lived happily "before the ever after.

"Daniel.

"In second grade, Daniel walked over to me, Ollie and Darry, "said 'You guys want to race from here to the tree?'

"When he lost, he laughed and didn't even care, "just high-fived Darry, who always wins "every race every time and said, "'You got feet like wings, bruh.'

"Then he got on his bike and we knew "he wasn't regular.

"He was fearless.

"Even back then, he could already "do things on a bike that a bike wasn't made for doing.

"Popping wheelies and spinning and standing up on the seat "while holding on to the handlebars and speeding "down the steepest hills in town.

"Me, Darry and Ollie used to call ourselves Tripod "cuz the three of us came together like that.

"But when we met Daniel, we became the Fantastic Four.

"And even after he broke his arm "when he jumped a skate park ramp right into a wall, "he didn't stop riding.

"He said, 'My cast is like a second helmet,' "held it high in the air "with the unbroken arm holding the handlebars "and then not holding them and Daniel flying "around the park like some kid "gravity couldn't mess with.

"While me and Darry and Ollie watched him amazed.

"And terrified."

So, I'm gonna stop there.

Those are just a few of the verse bits of verse in this book.

And as you can see, it's really well written.

I love the way that Jacqueline Woodson writes.

(upbeat music) (child giggling) - Hi, everybody.

It's time for our "Impact at Home" minute of movement.

And we're going to be doing jumping jacks.

Get ready.

Get set.

And Jack!

Good!

Make sure you land lightly and touch your fingertips over your head.

Touch those fingertips if you can.

Good job.

Make sure you breathe.

Keep touching those fingertips.

Good job, guys, we're almost there.

Almost there.

Keep working, keep pushing.

Keep breathing, keep working, keep pushing.

Keep breathing, keep working, keep pushing.

Keep breathing, keep working, keep pushing.

And five, four, three, two, one!

All right, we're finished.

Thanks for taking a part in this "Impact at Home" minute of movement.

(child giggling) (upbeat music) - There's only a few major Hemingway collections in the United States.

One of them is here at Central Michigan University.

(bright music) The Clarke Hemingway Collection is a wonderful body of documentation that tells the story of Ernest Hemingway's time in Michigan, from really a baby until he was a young man.

His first wedding was here in Michigan.

It started with a meeting between myself and a gentleman named Michael Federspiel.

- As an undergrad here at CMU, I had worked as a student assistant at the Clarke, and so knew the Clarke well and approached Frank and asked Frank if the Clarke might be interested in establishing a Hemingway collection.

So, collaboratively, Frank Boles and the dean at the time, Tom Moore, and I kind of started that collection, which grew and advanced.

And it's a magnificent place to store safely things, not only for our generation, but for generations to come.

- Preservation is really important to us because we do want to preserve the original.

The thrill of some of this is that you hold a letter that Ernest Hemingway wrote, you hold a scrapbook that Ernest Hemingway's mother put together that has, honest to goodness pictures taken by Ernest Hemingway's father of the kids in a row boat or splashing in the lake.

Preservation can vary from very simple things to very expensive things.

- So it's not as if it just shows up here and it's done.

You can't put it on the shelf and just say it's done.

How do people find it, right?

You need a library catalog.

How do people know what it is?

We need to describe it.

You need to do all this extra work behind the scenes.

From the time it gets here until the time it's on the shelf for use is maybe a couple of weeks to a month.

But that's just everything that goes into making it available so that a hundred years from now, we still know where it is.

People can still get to it and they can still look at these documents that today we're enjoying and were enjoyed a hundred years ago when they were created.

- One of the things we also established at the very beginning was something called the Michigan Hemingway Endowment, designed to promote knowledge about Hemingway's personal and literary ties to the state, but also to acquire materials like the Gamble letter that was written in 1919 and other Hemingway correspondence and letters and related materials.

(gentle music) - One of the reasons we have for developing a collection like the Ernest Hemingway collection is not simply have it, but to share it.

And the really important purpose is to share it, to get it into the people's hands, to get it into the community's hands.

We've worked in a variety of ways to do that with the Hemingway material.

This is a collection that grows both because we're interested in it as a library, but also because there's a community of people in the state really care about this and are willing to support it.

Some of it is donated, some of it was purchased.

What we like to say is that, and it's really important, that the entire collection was in one way or another privately given to Central Michigan University and the Clarke Library.

We've been very, very fortunate to be able to develop a very robust collection of Hemingway material.

(gentle music) (upbeat music) (gentle music) - Hey everyone.

Thanks for joining me for another episode of "First Episode Friday."

My name is Lucy and I'm really excited today to be reading to you the first chapter of a new book called "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramee.

This is her debut novel and it is a realistic fiction middle grade book about a 12 year old girl named Shayla.

Shayla is allergic to trouble.

All she wants to do is follow the rules.

And when she gets to junior high, she finds that some of the rules have changed.

She's suddenly questioning who her best friends are and some people at school are saying she's not Black enough.

Shayla sister, Hana, her older sister, is involved in Black Lives Matter and Shayla doesn't think that's for her.

But after experiencing a powerful protest, Shayla decides that some rules might actually be worth breaking.

So that is where I will leave you with what the book is about.

And if that sounds interesting to you, then this might be a book that you want to pick up.

I'm going to read to you now chapter one of "A Good Kind of Trouble."

Chapter One.

"First Slide.

"I'm allergic to trouble.

"It makes my hands itch.

"But today in science, when Mr. Levy starts calling out "Lab-partner assignments, "I don't even get the lightest tingle.

"I just sit there, barely breathing, "waiting for him to assign me to the perfect partner.

"He's been promising we'd start science labs "since the first day of school, "but it's been weeks.

"Lots of time for me to decide on the perfect partner.

"Mr. Levy has been teaching science at Emerson Junior High "for centuries, and he looks like a mad scientist.

"For real.

"He has wild, frizzy gray hair "and even wears a lab coat every day.

"He fluffs his hair and adjusts his thick black glasses.

"I start rubbing my hands against my legs, "which isn't a good sign, but I don't pay attention.

"Any second he will get to my name.

"'Shayla and...' "Mr. Levy pauses a few seconds, "like he's really thinking about it.

"Like he doesn't already have the list in front of him.

"'And Bernard,' he says.

"No.

"And I mean, no.

"This is the opposite of perfect.

"I sneak a peek behind me.

"Bernard sits in the back, slouching low in his seat.

"Junior-high desks weren't made for Bernard.

"He's not kid sized.

"He's grown-up sized.

"And grown-up big.

"He catches me looking at him, and his mouth shifts "into a mean grimace.

"I gulp and look away.

"My sister, Hana, would say I'm being just like those people "who take one look at a Black person "and they think they need to clutch their purse tight "or lock their car doors.

"I have no problem with Bernard being Black.

"Obviously.

"I'm Black too.

"It's him being huge and mean and scary.

"Bernard went to the same elementary school as me "and my best friends, Isabella and Julia.

"We're all terrified of him.

"Everyone I know is terrified of him.

"Even in kindergarten he would scowl at everybody.

"And he'd yell.

"A lot.

"In second grade, he yelled at me because I got to "the Star Wars Legos before he did.

"He grabbed those stormtroopers right out of my hands, "and if you've ever had someone snatch Legos from you, "you know how much it hurts.

"And he didn't say sorry.

"I told him I needed the stormtroopers.

"But Bernard looked at me like he wouldn't have minded "squashing me right underneath one of his big shoes.

"Bernard was a bully then, and he's a bully now.

"Please, oh, please don't let us be doing lab work today.

"'Find your partners, everyone!'

"Mr. Levy claps his hands together.

"I just bet partnering me with Bernard is "some devious experiment: "what happens if we mix trouble-hating girl with bully boy?

"Kaboom.

"That's what.

"'Shayla!'

Bernard hollers.

"He sounds mad.

"I guess he's not happy that we're partners either.

"I walk to the back of the room to the lab tables, "and my feet feel like they weigh 600 pounds.

"'I got the first slide!'

"Bernard's voice is like a bunch of bowling balls "all being dropped at the same time.

"The glass in one of his big paws snaps in two.

"'Oh,' I say.

"He could probably snap one of my fingers just like that.

"Bernard shakes his head and starts sucking a finger.

"I'm sure that is a bad idea.

"Mr. Levy comes over and sets some new slides "next to our microscope.

"He doesn't even ask Bernard if he's okay.

"Bernard doesn't look okay; "he looks angry, which is basically saying "he looks like Bernard.

"'Stop messing around,' Mr. Levy tells Bernard.

"'I wasn't!'

Bernard booms.

"Mr. Levy shakes his head and walks away.

"After that, Bernard won't even look in the microscope.

"He shoves the stack of slides at me, "like it's my fault he broke the first one.

"The top slide has a tiny green-brown thing on it and "when I peer through the microscope, "I can see it's a bug leg.

"I think it's from a grasshopper and "write some notes about it "and try not to study Bernard.

"I don't know if I should say anything to him.

"I don't want to make him even more mad.

"When class is over, he gets up so fast, "he knocks his desk to its side, "and instead of picking it up, he storms out of the room.

"You bet Mr. Levy frowns real hard at that.

"I pick up Bernard's desk before leaving class.

"Maybe since Mr. Levy didn't have to pick it up, "no one will get in trouble, "but my hands itch anyway."

So that is the first chapter of "A Good Kind of Trouble."

(upbeat music) - A book that has been kind of formative for me is called "The Value of Believing in Yourself."

It's an important historical story, but broken down into, in a way that a kid could understand.

And some really cool visuals that made you see the rabies vaccine as these horrible little, you know, little green bugs and then the soldiers that were the good guys in the vaccine marching in.

It kind of pulled me in, but helped me understand a great event in history.

It was all about believing in yourself because everyone told Louis that he was crazy, that he'd never find this vaccine.

And he figured it out and he saved a lot of people.

I think a moment like that just happened about a month and a half ago when we, when we won the gold medal, because for a long time, it just was like, "No, Americans, aren't good at cross country skiing "and will never win an Olympic medal."

And we just kept working at it, kept working at it, and believed in ourselves and we were able to do it.

I think reading is such a powerful way for you to kind of be pulled into a story.

And it's amazing how just the right visual, the right sequence of words can empower you to really go out and chase your dreams.

- I had a great time with you today.

It was so cool to see how Kikkan was inspired by her favorite book.

I have personally read a few books that have changed my life for the better.

What book had the most impact on you?

Be sure to check out our website for lots of great resources about literature.

See you next time.

- This program is made possible in part by Michigan Department of Education, The State of Michigan, and by viewers like you!

(upbeat music) (piano music)