How It Feels To Be Colored Me And Their Eyes Were Watching God

It is strange that two of the most prominent artists of the Harlem Renaissance could ever disagree as much as or be as different as Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright. Despite the fact that they are the same color and lived during the same time period, they do not have much else in common. On the one hand is Hurston, a female writer who indulges in black art and culture and creates subtle messages throughout her most famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. On the other hand is Wright, who is a male writer who demonstrates that whites do not like black people, nor will they ever except for when they are in the condition “…America likes to see the Negro live: between laughter and tears.” Hurston was also a less political writer than

The Harlem Renaissance was an era that took place in the 1920’s through the middle of the 1930’s and amalgamated many young new performers, artists, and writers; one author, Zora Neale Hurston made an impact by combining the ideals of the Harlem Renaissance with her own beliefs. In the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston, the author includes examples of reflections and departures from the Harlem Renaissance. The author’s interpretations of a society that is oppressive towards African Americans is a reflection of Harlem Renaissance beliefs but her negative portrayal of African Americans that have achieved a higher social class is a departure from the Harlem Renaissance.

First, The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s. The purpose of the Harlem Renaissance was that it created a new black cultural identity (Beth Rowen and Borgna Bower 2007).Next, this era was a time for people to find their identity in music, writing, plays, and much more.This was also a way for African - Americans to find their identity as individuals. This is where the African - American authors came to get their names known. The purpose of the Harlem Renaissance was to help the African- American culture find their identity as an individual instead of being labeled by other people’s opinions ( Rowen and Borgna , 2007 ). Because of all of the opportunities that Harlem presented, Zora Neale Hurston was able to leave a legacy during this era . Between 1920 and 1930: 750, 000 African- Americans migrated from the South to the North because of all the job opportunities and

Serving as a backdrop for the stage that Zora Neale Hurston would place herself, the Harlem Renaissance was a culmination of young black artists striving to reinvent both themselves and their crafts and an explosion of cultural and artistic expression. Between 1918 and 1928 Hurston made leaps and bounds in developing and cultivating herself as both an individual and an aspiring writer. Her time at both Howard University and Barnard College, Columbia University while studying underneath anthropologist Franz Boas who helped to refine her skills as a writer and researcher. By maintaining a strong connection to her southern roots Hurston revived the strong vernacular of the communities she immersed herself within.

Zora Neale Hurston’s novel highly praised novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, was once denounced by many critics because it was categorized as a feminist novel. However, through further analyzation, the novel is now viewed simply as a protagonist developing a feminist conscience throughout her marriages.

The Harlem Renaissance was “variously known as the New Negro movement, the New Negro Renaissance, and the Negro Renaissance, the movement emerged toward the end of World War I in 1918, blossomed in the mid- to late 1920s, and then withered in the mid-1930s. The Harlem Renaissance marked the first time mainstream publishers, critics took African American literature seriously, and that African American literature and arts attracted significant attention from the nation as a whole (1).”

A reflection of the truth. The Harlem Renaissance is real. It is identified as a spiritual re-awakening, a rebirth in culture, a sense of pride and self awareness. However, African Americans were not always allowed this prodigious freedom. Prior to the Harlem Renaissance African Americans were slaves; considered a piece of property who had no rights whatsoever. Despite, their harsh history, Civil Rights were enforced, this helped bring them out of their misery; which is why the harlem renaissance is such an important era for the African American culture. Zora Neale Hurston plays a very critical role in the identification of Harlem Renaissance. She was born in Alabama on January 7, 1891. Both of her parents were former

Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story about a black woman who tried to find her inner voice and the true self through three marriages. Her name is Jane Crawford. From age 16 to age 40, she spent days out to look for the perfect love that like the way she described a bee pollinating pear tree blossoms. She experiences no love rather than hard work during her first marriage with Logan; she finds the conflicts between power and conquest when she was married with Jody; she finally find the love she was looking for and also understand the relationships between love and independence at her third marriage with Tea Cake. After 24 years of gradual change, Jane grows into maturity, and is able to ask her soul to come out and see herself.

The Harlem Renaissance was a period from the end of World War I through the middle

Throughout the development of the settlement of African Americans in America, they have gone through many different struggles and have come a long way from their nasty beginnings of slavery in America to modernized 2015 where African Americans have the same amount of rights that anyone else that is born in the country has. Both African American men and woman have struggled incessantly through time but each gender has had their individual struggles. Zora Neale Hurston portrays this with exquisite clarity in the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” sometimes using the imagery of animals to explain the hardships and adversity that African Americans had to overcome. She perfectly exemplifies how black woman in particular were treated as opposed to black men and what the expectations were that society had for them both.

She uses idealistic examples and real world situations to get the best realistic interpretation on the matter of the harlem renaissance. This novel also is a great way to learn and understand the importance of women's roles and rights during the harlem renaissance era for the black/african american women. All in all, Hurston’s depiction of the harlem renaissance reflects and departs the major topics and does so

Society has always thought of racism as a war given to the lowly African American from the supposedly high class white man, but no one thought there would be prejudice within a hierarchical class system inside the black community. However within that class system, history has shown that darker colored women are at the deep trenches of the totem pole. In the novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” African American women are put under harm and control exposing the racism and sexism with their community. Through the life of Janie Crawford, Zora Neale Hurston portrays the concept of a woman finding her independence in a black, hierarchical, and racist society.

     The Harlem Renaissance was a time of racism, injustice, and importance. Somewhere in between the 1920s and 1930s an African American movement occurred in Harlem, New York City. The Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture of African-Americans and redefined African-American expression. It was the result of Blacks migrating in the North, mostly Chicago and New York. There were many significant figures, both male and female, that had taken part in the Harlem Renaissance. Ida B. Wells and Langston Hughes exemplify the like and work of this movement.

Purpose- Hurston’s purpose is to demonstrate that she is proud of her color. She does not need the bragging rights of having Native American ancestry, nor does she ‘belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it.’

Hurston later went on to publish “Their Eyes were Watching God,” in 1937, still keeping with the themes of strong black characters.