Viola Muse Digital Edition Launch Party

333 North Laura Street,Jacksonville FL 32202

02 November, 2022

Description

Viola Muse (1898-1981) was a local salon owner who worked from 1936 to 1940 as an interviewer and writer in the Negro Writers’ Unit of the Florida Federal Writers Project, headquartered here in Jacksonville, FL. Muse and the other writers who worked in the Negro Writers Unit compiled an account of Florida’s past and present from an African- American perspective. During the years in which she worked for the Federal Writers Project, Muse traveled around Lavilla and other Black neighborhoods in Jacksonville to interview everyday citizens. She visited neighbors’ homes and took notes on the paintings that hung on living room walls; she walked through segregated Black schools and collected poems written by precocious pupils; she interviewed former enslaved people about their experiences of slavery; she corresponded with journalists about the history of the Black press in town; she dropped into hickory furniture workshops to inquire about the business practices of local craftsmen. Muse jotted down her notes on the back of cut up Depression era job relief forms, paraphrasing the stories her interview subjects relayed and recording her own detailed observations about these people, their homes, and their workplaces. The Viola Muse Digital Edition publishes Muse's notes and drafts for the first time. The project is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and represents collaborations between UNF's Digital Humanities Institute, UNF's Africana Studies program, the Jacksonville Historical Society, and the Ritz Theatre and Museum (which provided the image of Muse shown here). Many other friends and community members have helped make this project happen, and we invite them and you to celebrate the edition's launch at MOCA Jax during November Art Walk.