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

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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 …show more content…

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

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The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural, artistic, and musical explosion that took place in Harlem, New York, in the 1920s. This time period, was also known as the "New Negro Movement", named by Alain Locke. The Movement included new African American expressions of their culture. These changes took place across areas in the Northeast and Midwest United States that were affected by the African-American Great Migration, in which Harlem was by far the biggest. The Harlem Renaissance is considered to be the rebirth of African-American arts.

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Throughout the text, Hurston infers that she's optimistic about being colored. “How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company”(67)? Hurston writes that she feels discriminated against but also feels how could anyone not want to be in her presence therefor She feels optimistic about the future. Hurston recalls that “Slavery is sixty years in the past” (65).

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Hurston's educational practice enhanced her knowledge to pursue a literary career. Hurston's big Smith

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The Harlem Renaissance was a time period between the end of World War 1 and the 1930s. It was a musical, literary, cultural, and artistic movement in Harlem that greatly impacted the 1920s along with the world today. Many African Americans were able to live normally when they were not ruled by the White people. During the Renaissance, these Africans Americans were able to take pride in their race and show how intellectually capable and talented they were. The movement along with many of the people associated with it broke many Black stereotypes, started integration, and was the early beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.

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It was there that she published her first short stories. These stories were mainly about black folklore and as well as life in Eatonville. (manythigns.org). There is certainty that the folklores that Hurston used were the picked up from her childhood in Eatonville which was at the time a town occupied solely by black people. Regardless of how she garnered the folklores, here stories were recognized and “were published in newspapers and magazines” (chdr.cah.ucf.edu).

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Zora Neale Hurston is writer known for her the books “Sweat”, “How It Feels To Be Colored Me”, and her most famous, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston grew up in the South during the beginning of the twentieth century. Like many other African American writers in the Harlem Renaissance, she discussed the daily lives of African Americans in her works. However, many of her works were very contentious within the the African American community because of her peculiar views on several issues concerning African Americans. Zora Neale Hurston was a Harlem Renaissance writer that through her work reflected the many values of the Harlem Renaissance and disputed many of the key principles of the movement.

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1645 Words | 7 Pages

The Harlem Renaissance was a black literary and art movement that began in Harlem, New York. Migrants from the South came to Harlem with new ideas and a new type of music called Jazz. Harlem welcomed many African Americans who were talented. Writers in the Harlem Renaissance had separated themselves from the isolated white writers which made up the “lost generation” The formation of a new African American cultural identity is what made the Harlem Renaissance and the Lost Generation unique in American culture because it influenced white literacy and it was a sense of freedom for African Americans.

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During the 1920s and 1920s, African-American culture came to the forefront of the American art industry. The interest was not limited to literature but included music and movies as well. Jazz music gained traction during the Prohibition Era from underground speakeasies in the city and African-American actors and actresses such as Josephine Baker and Caterina Jarboro rose to popularity. However, the Renaissance typically refers to the rise of African-American literature during this period. Although African-American authors around the world rose to popularity, the center of the movement was in the namesake neighborhood of Harlem, a predominantly black neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City.

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Miss Tushabe presented us with statistics that helped us understand the racial climate of the time. For example, she showed us that in 1920, only 3% of the African American population in the United States lived in the North, while the vast majority lived in the South. This helped us understand the challenges and experiences of Hurston as a Black woman in the South during this period. Also, Miss Tushabe used quotations from the text to help us understand Hurston's message.

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Imagine Harlem, New York in the mid 1920’s; the rising amount of free African Americans to find a new life with jobs in the North. Imagine the burst of African American culture, the new music, art, and literature. This image represents the Harlem Renaissance; the rebirth of African American culture. The Harlem Renaissance is the name given to the cultural and social movement which took place in Harlem, New York between the end of World War I and towards the middle of the 1930s. The Renaissance focused on the culture of African Americans and the new forms of music, art, and literature.

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1545 Words | 7 Pages

With those new opportunities they took to art, literature, and music, and gave themselves a voice to express life beyond the slave oppression. The Harlem Renaissance started a change for African Americans that motivated them to express themselves through their own culture and history. The legacy of the writers/poets, artists, and musicians had a great effect on the African American community by giving hope for better days.

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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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Racism is a prominent issue or a serious problem in the American society since the beginning and the Americans are still struggling to eradicate this problem from their land. American soil has witnessed civil rights movements concerning this issue in the past. However in 1920, a movement got initiated to promote black identity known as Harlem Renaissance. It was also a fine arts movement that led to an increase in black confidence, literacy rate, and black culture. Writers wrote about their roots and the current society.

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If they before were disregarded, in the 1920s their works were widespread. Harlem Renaissance has changed not only cultural but social and political position of African-Americans in American society. The mass migration to the North changed the image of the African-American person, he was not an ignorant and illiterate peasant anymore, he turned into a smart and educated representative of the Middle class. Thanks to this changes, African-Americans became the part of the American and then the world cultural and intellectual elite.

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During this time period, Whites did not see African Americans intellectually equal. Hurston demonstrates this by stating how blacks lack confidence, until night time when their master is gone, they be themselves. In the book it states, “The sun

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