She used her wealth to become a literary and cultural patron, supporting such artists and writers as Alain Locke,[5] Aaron Douglas, Langston Hughes, Arthur Fauset, and Miguel Covarrubias of the Harlem Renaissance.
Hurston was also studying anthropology and from 1928-1932, Mason supported the writer during her research into African-American folklore and culture in the Deep South, Haiti and Jamaica.
Mason also supported Hurston during her writing of a book on Cudjoe Lewis, known then as the last survivor of the 1860 illegal Clotilda.
[7] After learning about Cudjoe Lewis from Hurston's 1928 article about him, Mason also helped support the elderly man, who lived in Africatown, a neighborhood of Mobile, Alabama.
She insisted on being called "Godmother", and she developed intricate and controlling relationships with the people she helped.
[8] One explicit area of interest Mason pushed on Hurston was the notion of finding the "authentic" Black life or culture and writing about it.
McClaurin states though that by doing so the "authentic" Black life or culture is judged by Mason's white standard and understanding.