Who Is Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston, known as one of the most symbolic African American women during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930’s. Hurston was known as a non fiction writer, anthropologist and folklorist. Hurston’s literature has served as a big eye opener during the Harlem Renaissance, celebrating black dialect and their traditions. Most of her published stories “depict relationships among black residents in her native southern Florida, was largely unconcerned with racial injustices” (Bomarito 89). Hurston was unique when it came to her racial point of views, promoting white racism instead of black racism. Even though her works had been forgotten by the time of her death, now her literature has left a bigger impact to future literature

Zora Neale Hurston is a trailblazer. Back then people ridiculed her, but she felt the pride and dignity within herself. She was seen as an African-American grandmother in many images of black women writers (Showalter 221). Her talent for African-American literature excited the new readers who were constantly reading her literary works (“Hurston,” Feminist). Occasionally, both black and white supporters reviewed her books (McKay). She demonstrates a larger pattern of white American culture to be substantially inspiring in her interest with politics (“Hurston,” Authors). The works of Hurston would affect on her literary work that is shared through others. Understanding Zora Neale Hurston’s typical themes and concerns in her body of literary

     Zora Neale Hurston was a phenomenal woman. At the height of her success she was known as the “Queen of the Harlem Renaissance.” She came to overcome obstacles that were placed in front of her. Hurston rose from poverty to fame and lost it all at the time of her death. Zora had an unusual life; she was a child that was forced to grow up to fast. But despite Zora Neale Hurston’s unsettled life, she managed to surmount every obstacle to become one of the most profound authors of the century.

Zora Neal Hurston was criticized by other African American writers for her use of dialect and folk speech. Richard Wright was one of her harshest critics and likened Hurston’s technique “to that of a minstrel show designed to appease a white audience” (www.pbs.org).Given the time frame, the Harlem Renaissance, it is understandable that Zora Neale Hurston may be criticized. The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement which redefined how America, and the world, viewed African Americans, so her folk speech could be seen as perpetuating main stream society’s view of African Americans as ignorant and incapable of speaking in complete sentences. However, others, such as philosopher and critic Alain Locke, praised her. He considered Hurston’s “gift for poetic phrase and rare dialect, a welcome replacement for so much faulty local color fiction about Negroes” (www.pbs.org).

Along with others, she demanded equal rights for African American culture in history (Bio.com). Hurston brought joy to the Harlem streets through her writings and folklore. She cared about the cause and wanted people to enjoy what happiness they had left. Hurston infrequently portrayed blacks as victims of white society. She represented them as self-determined beings who are proud of their culture. This demonstrated that Hurston wanted people to see the best in others. She wanted others to know that the downfalls of their lives do not define who they are. Hurston also tried to stand up to white supremacy. The editors then silenced her work, making her voice vanish from the community. Her work was later rediscovered after her death in the 1960’s and ‘70s (Zora Neale Hurston: A Female Perspective). Hurston wanted to speak out against the cultural norms and break the guidelines; she wanted to make a difference. Hurston wanted to stop the way whites treated African Americans. She wanted to help them find peace and equality through her

In Zora Neale Hurston’s essay “How It Feels To Be Colored Me”, her racial identity varies based on her location. Towards the beginning of her life when Zora was in her own community she could be a lighthearted, carefree spirit. However, when she was forced to leave her community, Zora’s identity became linked to her race. In this essay I will demonstrate how Zora’s blackness is both a sanctuary and completely worthless.

The memoir “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston, was first published in 1928, and recounts the situation of racial discrimination and prejudice at the time in the United States. The author was born into an all-black community, but was later sent to a boarding school in Jacksonville, where she experienced “race” for the first time. Hurston not only informs the reader how she managed to stay true to herself and her race, but also inspires the reader to abandon any form of racism in their life. Especially by including Humor, Imagery, and Metaphors, the author makes her message very clear: Everyone is equal.

Both Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes were great writers but their attitudes towards their personal experience as an African American differed in many ways. These differences can be attributed to various reasons that range from gender to life experience but even though they had different perceptions regarding the African American experience, they both shared one common goal, racial equality through art. To accurately delve into the minds of the writers’ one must first consider authors background such as their childhood experience, education, as well their early adulthood to truly understand how it affected their writing in terms the similarities and

One of Hurston’s stories, How it Feels to Be Colored Me, reflects the author’s perspective of the colored race (specifically herself). According to the story, when Hurston reached the age of thirteen, she truly “became colored” (1040). The protagonist was raised in Eatonville, Florida, which was mainly inhabited by the colored race. She noted no difference between herself and the white community except that they never lived in her hometown. Nevertheless, upon leaving Eatonville, the protagonist began losing her identity as “Zora,” instead, she was recognized as only being “a little colored girl” (1041). Hurston’s nickname “Zora” represents her individuality and significance; whereas, the name “a little colored girl” was created by a white society to belittle her race and gender (1041).

Zora Neale Hurston was born January 7, 1891 in a small town known as Notasulga, Alabama. She was born the fifth child of eight children to John and Lucy. Lucy, her mother, was an old schoolteacher and John, her father, was a Baptist preacher. Zora’s family relocated to Eatonville, Florida when she was just a young girl. When she was thirteen, her mother died in 1904. That same year, her father took her out of school to raise her brothers. At the age of sixteen, Zora was eager to escape the responsibility of looking after her brothers and became a member of a traveling theater. Afterward, she started doing labor work in a Caucasian household.

In the short story “Drenched in Light” by Zora Neale Hurston, the author appeals to a broad audience by disguising ethnology and an underlying theme of gender, race, and oppression with an ambiguous tale of a young black girl and the appreciation she receives from white people. Often writing to a double audience, Hurston had a keen ability to appeal to white and black readers in a clever way. “[Hurston] knew her white folks well and performed her minstrel shows tongue in cheek” (Meisenhelder 2). Originally published in The Opportunity in 1924, “Drenched in Light” was Hurston’s first story to a national audience.

Once her mother passed, she was “passed about like a bad penny.” Her father treated her like he didn’t want to have anything to do with her. Her father told her that she’d be hung for sure, since she was filled with passion and imagination. She felt as though once her daddy remarried the bond that they had been broken. Zora and her step mother Mattie Moge never got along with each other. They always exchange words and sometimes it would get intense to the point of them fighting. A few years later poor Zora would get tired of what she was going through. Zora worked her way up to the top, and later enrolled in school with a false birth date. Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist

Zora Neale Hurston is an influential writer, who has amused and entertained readers for decades, even after her time on Earth. Although her writing is pleasant to read simply for entertainment there also comes many great lessons to be learned in this novel. The universal

In The essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston, is a descriptive essay in which the author discovers her real identity. At the beginning of the essay, the setting takes place in Eatonville, Florida describing moments when Zora greets her neighbors by singing and dancing without anybody judging her. Back then, she was free from feeling different among other races. However, a tragedy happened when she was thirteen, her mom passed away and she left home to attend school in Jacksonville where she experiences discrimination due to her color of skin. She was introduced to a different lifestyle where the color of her skin was an unfortunate thing. However, she felt this change effected the way she viewed her appearance, as well as inside her. Here, she also experienced isolation that comes from being different compared to other races. Hurst realizes that it’s more than just being “colored”, but how race can separate people. Back in history, Jacksonville’s habitants were a mixture of blacks and whites. In Jacksonville, the author describes herself by being just another “colored girl.” However, this essay motivated me to analyze, evaluate and synthesize these works and explore the concepts and themes that run through each of the readings. Most importantly, find out what made this essay so important in American literature. According to the description in the essay, I have notice that the author Hurston uses literary devices like metaphor and tone that I found interesting and deserving for the reader to enjoy this journey.

In “How It Feels to Be Colored Me’’ by Zora Neale Hurston, she expresses herself through her writing in order to showcase her experiences, and self dignity as an African American woman. Hurston begins by taking the reader back to pieces from her childhood, and where she grew up; in Eatonville, Florida. She shows how comfortable she felt in her own skin, and how she always had a great time interacting with neighbors, friends, family, and tourists that would pass through her neighborhood. There was never a moment Hurston felt out of place. That was until Hurston’s mother sadly passed away when Zora was only thirteen, and resulted in Zora having to move to a boarding school in Jacksonville. Everything she once knew, and cared about was taken away from her, and at such a young age she was forced to adapt. I myself have experienced something similar, as a thirteen year old I was forced to move from my mother’s house to my father’s house in a new city. I began High school with no friends to lean to, and a whole new environment to adjust to. Although, Hurston's, and my experience weren't equally as difficult, I could see where she is coming from. Hurston states how her boarding school had so much diversity in race that at times she felt out of place. Hurston explains how she transitions from, ‘’everyone’s Zora,’’ to for the first time feeling like a colored girl. She uses the expression ‘’everyone’s Zora’’ to