How Did Zora Neale Hurston Reflect The Ideals Of The American Dream

The Harlem Renaissance rose out of America during the early 1920s. During this period, African American authors, artists, musicians, and performers were drastically changing the culture of America. The large northbound migration of African Americans after World War I allowed large groups to settle in Harlem, a large neighborhood in New York City. In Harlem, African culture was celebrated and became an inspiration to the new definition of America. Black talent was starting to gain fame and recognition in predominantly white careers. The Harlem Renaissance and the resulting literary works by African American authors changed the ideal of the American dream to include the Negro, as well as pave the way for the Civil Rights movement, where people

African American writers displayed their literary prowess through poetry, novels, short stories, and autobiographies. Many authors addressed the relationships between races, and the oppression of the Negro people, and the journey to black identity, as was the norm. Zora Neale Hurston, a radical female African American writer, was heavily criticized by the more prominent male authors during her time. In her autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road, published in 1942, Hurston relates her experiences as a school girl. The white people who came to observe the school system were often “brought by their friends to visit the village school. A Negro school was something strange to them, and while they were always sympathetic and kind, curiosity must have been present, also. They came and went, came and went” (Hurston 766). Hurston goes on to recount her direct relationship with two specific young white women who took an interest in her when they discovered her natural talent for reading and understanding literary texts. In her autobiography, contrary to the ideology of the time, Hurston positively depicted her interactions with the white race. She refused to create images of suffering, defeated Negroes in her work because she desired to portray African Americans as unconcerned as to the discriminatory issues based on skin color. Hurston’s literary works brought about a new vision of the American dream. One where people of different backgrounds could peacefully coexist without concerns as to political, economic, or racial status. She was a key figure in developing an American dream inclusive of African