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How Did Zora Neale Hurston Influence The Harlem Renaissance

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The Harlem Renaissance, a movement that took place in the 1920s and 1930s, produced many great African Americans that both influenced the movement, and even the greater whole of American society. Among these great people stood one of the most prolific writers of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston. Zora Neale Hurston was an African-American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker famous for her portrayal of the struggles of women and people of color, with this being the exact focus of her most iconic work, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Despite eventually becoming one of the most famous African American authors, she had a modest upbringing, born to two former slaves. Her childhood helped Hurston grow into a self-reliant person, as well …show more content…

Through ideals she gained while growing up in an resilient colored community, Zora Neale Hurston was able to influence and make monumental efforts to the Harlem Renaissance through amazing works that are still relevant to society today. Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama in 1891 to former slaves (2), before quickly moving to the growing town of Eatonville in 1894 (6). Eatonville was known as one of the first major majority African American towns in the US, and its success inspired Hurston and made her think of what the African American Community/Population in America could do. Hurston’s family flourished in Eatonville, with her father eventually becoming the mayor of the …show more content…

This essay brought Hurston’s name back into the public eye, and with hindsight the public found her work, their underlying themes, and even her work outside of writing truly a monument of the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston’s accolades include using the Harlem Renaissance to lead a successful feminist movement ahead of its time (5), and writing with both creativity and anthropology in mind to make her work have “life in it” to better portray literary elements (5). She was an activist to her final breath, fighting the Brown v Board decision in the 1950s, past both her and the Harlem Renaissance’s haydays. Hurston’s writing was able to portray black people with a soul, diverging from the norms and stereotypes the public had of African Americans, something very few could do. All of her wit and expertise allows her to be known today as one of the forefathers (mothers?) of the Harlem Renaissance, and embodies the cultural expression the Renaissance worked to

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- Zora Neale Hurston, born January 7th, 1891, was an African-American author, widely known for her classic novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Being raised in Eatonville, Florida, the first black township of the United States, Hurston was indulged in black culture at a very early age. Zora was described to have a fiery, yet bubbly spirit, befriending very influential people, one being American poet, Langston Hughes. With heavy influence from her hometown, along with the achievement of the black women around her, an abundance of motivation came when Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God. The novel promotes black power, all while rejecting the stereotypes held against women.

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Through figurative and direct language in her writing you can see Hurston’s reflection and a departure from the Harlem Renaissance. An example of departure comes from figurative language in the essay “How it Feels to Be Colored Me”. The essay states “I feel like a brown bag of miscellany,”(line 15). This sentence shows

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In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, she shows that she shares the Harlem Renaissance value(s) of rebirth and self expression, however she departs from the value of prosperity. A prominent value supported both in the Harlem renaissance and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston was the

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Zora Neale Hurston was an African American novelist who published more books in the 1960’s. Growing up, Hurston was shielded from racism and had a yearning for knowledge. She had always had an effortless skill for storytelling and studied folklore and oral history in her home state. In 1935, Mules and Men had been her best selling work, yet she only earned $943.75 for it. Hurston continued to write and publish and was criticized by black male writers for refusing to bring a more political side to her stories.

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The Harlem Renaissance was a significant cultural movement that took place in the early 20th century, primarily among African American artists, writers, and musicians. One of the most prominent writers of this period was Zora Neale Hurston, whose novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" reflects and departs from the Harlem Renaissance by exploring the protagonist's journey towards self-identity and challenging traditional gender roles through the lens of the African American experience in the early 20th century. In the novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," Zora Neale Hurston reflects the themes of the Harlem Renaissance by portraying the protagonist Janie's journey towards self-identity and overcoming the challenges she faces with gender roles.

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Zora Neal Hurston depicts, Their Eyes Were Watching God, as both a reflection of, and a departure from, the Harlem Renaissance, by writing the book from a lower-class, woman’s, perspective. Over the years, Hurston has received praise for her use of African American dialect in her writing. An example of the dialect being, “She was an ironing board

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Aria Jackson Ms. Lavelle 4/21/23 The Harlem Renaissance was known at the time as the, “New Negro Movement.” From literature to music to art, this period emphasized the struggles and experiences of African-Americans as a whole. The Harlem Renaissance explored themes of economic social prosperity, the importance of community, the power of rebirth, and the value of self-expression, and the role of spirituality. Through the neighborhood gossiping about Janie, to not being able to go to the funeral, to her taking off her head rag, and to reminiscing her flashback to phoebe, Zora Neale Hurston departs from the harlem renaissance value of community and reflects the harlem renaissance value of self expression.

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Zora Neale Hurston and Rudolph Fisher were two African American writers who gained prominence during the Harlem Renaissance, the cultural revolution that took place in the 1920s and 1930s. Both writers had different styles and approaches, however, they both focused on exploring issues of race and identity. In their stories "The Caucasian Storms Harlem" and "How it Feels to Be Colored Me," both Hurston and Fisher address the challenges faced by black people in a predominantly white society, focusing specifically on their experiences in the cabaret. In "The Caucasian Storms Harlem," Fisher depicts his return to Harlem.

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Zora Neale Hurston was an African American writer acknowledged for her short stories, being a folklorist, and an anthropologist. Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama, on January 7, 1891. She was daughter to two former slaves. “At the age of three her family moved to Eatonville, Florida.” (manythings.org).

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The Harlem Renaissance is widely considered the uprising of African American culture. The duration of this movement started in the 1920s and went on until the start of the Great Depression. This age reflected African Americans' talent to flourish through cultural, social, and artistic events. Zora Neale Hurston’s, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” reflects and departs ideas from the Harlem Renaissance to bring perspective to black womanhood in America. Through the character of Janie Crawford, Hurston explores the complexities of black femininity and identity, defying the male-dominated narratives at the time.

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Through the rise and fall of the Harlem Renaissance there were a variety of influential writers and poets that preached their dreams to the generations that would listen. These authors centered their writings, be it books, poems, or papers, on promoting equality for the black community. The Harlem community strives to tip the scales of progress, aspiring to rise above all others as a beacon of advancement and prosperity. Zora Neale Hurston had a different mindset when it came to expressing her ideas through writing. Hurston was not trying to bring one side higher, but instead balanced the scales and made everyone equal.

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During the Harlem Renaissance, people believed that this was a time of discrimination but the African Americans took it as a new type of self-determination and pride within their race, and with excitement for the future they could keep a positive focus which later leads to the civil rights movement of 1964. Which created a nonviolent movement that abolished legalized racial segregation, and discrimination throughout the US. In Zora Neale Hurston's book, Their eyes are watching God, Hurston both reflects and departs from the Harlem Renaissance belief that there is excitement for the future as shown by Janie's accomplishments, Independence as well as struggles with her different husbands and adventures. One way the novel shows a reflection is through independence and a sense of newness.

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Hurston’s autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road marks the popularity of her career as a writer in the Harlem Renaissance. It is an autobiography intertwined with reality, mystery, imagination, creation, humor and wisdom, celebrating Hurston’s struggle from an isolated southern child to a recognized black female writer. It is an autobiography contains a controversial work evoking both recognition and discrete criticism. Starting with the history of Eatonville, the founding of the pure Negro town, Hurston in Dust Tracks locates herself as a carefree black girl in a harmless place immune from threats of the racial segregation, then delineates her life as a wander after her mother’s death. Aside from her journey in life, the alienation of the narrator

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The empowerment of black women wasn 't present in the Harlem Renaissance and in this novel it shows the empowerment of black women. Zora Neale Hurston’s writing in Their Eyes Were Watching God, departs from the Harlem Renaissance through the common recurrence of black women

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The Harlem Renaissance was a movement that reflected the culture of African Americans in an artistic way during the 1920’s and the 30’s. Many African Americans who participated in this movement showed a different side of the “Negro Life,” and rejected the stereotypes that were forced on themselves. The Harlem Renaissance was full of artists, musicians, and writers who wrote about their thoughts, especially on discrimination towards blacks, such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, and Langston Hughes. The Harlem Renaissance was an influential and exciting movement, and influenced others to fight for what they want and believed in. The Harlem Renaissance was the start of the Civil Rights Movement.

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