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Zora Neale Hurston How It Feels To Be Colored Me Essay

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Zora Neale Hurston is a powerful writer of African American literature. Hurston is closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance and influenced many writers during the time period. In 1928, Hurston’s article “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” was published by The World Tomorrow. The essay argues against the typical ideologies of racial segregation. Hurston states that she “do[es] not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood” (“How It Feels…”, 1-2) that requires her to internalize past and present injustices faced by African Americans. Hurston later published another article in 1950 titled “What White Publishers Won’t Print”, where she addresses the lack of interest in society about the lives, emotions, and culture of African Americans. White people find their interest sparked by …show more content…
Literature about the present state of affairs lack sufficient interest to print. In 1937, Hurston released her book Their Eyes Were Watching God which solidified many points covered in her articles. Through her society challenging words, Hurston presents a powerful message that challenges the mindsets of both the past and the present. Hurston lived in a time in which African American heros were uncommon in literature. She comments on this fact in “What White Publishers Won’t Print”, her article which shows the lack of interest in African American based literature. Stories following women were increasingly rare as women, especially African American women, had few public roles when she published Their Eyes Were Watching God in 1937. Hurston states that the literature of her time does not portray “a Negro experiencing a deep and abiding love and not just the passion of sex” (“What White Publishers”, 3), a fact she challenges through Janie’s journey. Hurston portrays Janie as a strong, independent woman, contrary to the previous portrayal of African American women during this time. She experiences different kinds of love during her search for unconditional love, a

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