The Zora Neale Conflict

The book Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is now considered a classic story by most, but when it was written, the book was heavily criticized by other black writers of the Harlem Renaissance. These writers criticized her on the basis of her portrayal of African-American men and women, saying that it reinforced the stereotype that they had been labeled with by the whites and that the book portrayed African-American life as too idyllic. However, most white authors praised her story and writing style.

One of the most famous critics of Hurston and her book was Richard Wright. About Their Eyes Were Watching God, Wright says, "Miss Hurston voluntarily continues in her novel the tradition that was forced upon the Negro." He also spoke about how Hurston wrote about negro life in a way that was meant to appeal to the white audience, who could read the story with a "piteous smile on the lips of the 'superior' race." Another critic was found in black author Alain Locke. He wrote a criticism almost as negative about the book as Wrights. Though Locke highly praises Hurston's writing ability, he too says that Their Eyes is guilty of, "...oversimplification!"

In my opinion, Their Eyes Were Watching God does not deserve this harsh criticism. Even though I am not even halfway through the book, Zora Neale Hurston has developed her characters very well already and I almost feel like I know Janie. The portrayal of her life is very realistic and added to by the fact that it is written with the southern dialect. For the most part, I also do not agree with the claims that her life is portrayed too idyllically. Janie's story is told with the harsh realities of her husbands' abuse--physical and verbal--and the struggle for the black people of Eatonville to build their own town.  However, I do agree that the book can be oversimplified at some points and very confusing at others. Overall, I think that this story deserves the praise that it is recieving now, not the harsh criticisms that it gained while Hurston was still living.

Sources:
Alain Locke Review : Opportunity, 1 June 1938.
Richard Wright Review : New Masses, 5 October 1937: 22-23

About the Author: Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston

1. Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama in 1891.
2. Hurston grew up in Eatonville, Florida -- the first incorporated all-black town in the US -- and returned there after college to do a field study in anthropology that influenced her writings.
3. She attended Howard University, Barnard College, and Columbia University where she was taught by anthropologist Franz Boas.
4. She was interested in and collected folklor of Jamaica, Haiti, Bermda, and Honduras. Some of her folklore and folk custom collections are Tell My Horse and Mules and Men.
5. Many of her writings addressed issues such as race and gender and related them to searching for freedom.
6. Their Eyes Were Watching God, published in 1937, is Zora Neale Hurston's best-known novel.
7. She was a prolific writer and some of her other fiction and nonfiction works include Jonah's Gourd Vine, Seraph on the Suwanee, Dust Tracks on a Road, and some short stories, plays, and journal articles.
8. Though the subjects of her writing were not political, Hurston's work created conflict in the black community because of her "...character's use of dialect, her manner of portraying black culture, and her conservatism..."
9. Hurston is noted for her, "...metaphorical language, story-telling abilities, and interest in and celebraiton of Southern black culture in the United States."
10. Zora Neale Hurston died of several health problems in 1960 impoverished and without recognition from the literary community.
11. However, in the 1970s, her works were rediscovered and republished by a new generation of black writers and she went on to inspire great authors including Ralph Ellison, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison.

Sources:

Zora Neale Hurston Picture: http://www.literaryhistory.com/20thC/Hurston.htm

Their Eyes Were Watching God Picture: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37415.Their_Eyes_Were_Watching_God

Information: "Zora Neale Hurston." Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.

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Their Eyes Were Watching the Harlem Renaissance

1. The Harlem Renaissance was and African American cultural movement that was centered around Harlem in New York City.
2. This event took place in the 1920's and early 1930's
3. It marked the first time that mainstream publishers and critics took African American literature and arts seriously and even put it in the public eye.
4. The Harlem Renaissance was primarily a literary movement, but also related to developments in African-American music, theater, art, and politics.
5. In the early 1920s, three works--Harlem Shadows, a volume of poetry by McKay; Cane, a novel in poetry and prose by Jean Toomer; and There is Confusion, a novel by writer and editor Jessie Fauset--laid the groundwork for the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance.
6. There were three events that really launched the Harlem Renaissance: Charles S. Johnson's dinner to recognize young, black writers and introduce them to the white literary establishment of New York; the publication of a book by Carl Van Vechten that covered the elite and baser side of Harlem; and the production by a group of young black writers their own literary magazine, Fire!!.
7. Some common themes in the Harlem Renaissance were an interest in the roots of the 20th-century African American experience in Africa and the American South, a strong sense of racial pride, a desire for social and political equality, and diversity of expression.
8. The literature and music of this Renaissance appealed to the African American middle class, the white people seeking out Harliem nightlife, and the book-buying white public.
9. The Harlem Renaissance's decline was caused by many factors, including the Great Depression, the switching of organizations' (such as the NAACP and Urban League) from the Renaissance to economic and social issues, the fact that many key black writers and literary promoters left New York City, and finally a riot in Harlem in 1935.
10. The writers and literature of the Harlem Renaissance inspired many great writers even after it ended, as well as providing upcoming African American authors and artists with publishers and public who were more open to their works.

Important People of the Harlem Renaissance


Claude McKay

• Claude McKay was a Jamaican-born American author who lived from 1890 to 1948.
• He wrote novels and poems depicting black life.
• McKay was one of the first black authors to attract a large white audience.
• His poetry and prose used traditional forms to express unfamiliar ideas and themes.
• McKay's novels include Home to Harlem, Banjo, and Banana Bottom. Some of his other works are an autobiography called A Long Way from Home and a sociological study titled Harlem: Negro Metropolis.

Josephine Baker

• Josephine Baker was a singer and dancer in the Harlem Renaissance.
• In the mid-1920's, she moved to Paris, France.
• While in France, she helped introduce European audiences to African American dances and music.
• Baker was married and divorced three times and never depended on a man for financial support.
• After becoming a well-known celebrity in France, she returned to America to fight segregation in the states.
• Josephine Baker singing "Paris, Paris, Paris" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyuMNkgyyvA&feature=player_embedded

Countee Cullen

• Countee Cullen was an American poet, novelist, playwright, and educator.
• Not many details are known about his early life, other than that he was raised mostly by Elizabeth Porter (possibly his grandmother) and the by the Reverend Frederick Cullen.
• His poems were very traditional and influenced by John Keats, sonnets, ballads, and other traditional forms.
• Cullen attended De Witt Clinton High School and earned a bachelor's degree from New York University.
• Cullen's poems and compilations include Color, The Caroling Dusk: An Anthology of Verse by Negro Poets, The Black Christ and Other Poems, and On These I Stand: An Anthology of the Best Poems of Countee Cullen. His one novel is titled One Way to Heaven, though he wrote two children's books: The Lost Zoo and My Lives and How I Lost Them. Countee collaborated with Arna Bontemps in his only play, St. Louis Woman.

Sources

Claude McKay Picture: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/mckay/mckay.htm

Josephine Baker Information and Picture: http://musiclinernotes.wordpress.com/2010/06/03/josephine-baker/

Countee Cullen Picture: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/cullen/life.htm

All Other Information: Wintz, Cary DeCordova. "Harlem Renaissance." Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.