Similarities Between The Fourth Of July And How It Feels To Be Colored Me

During a time where African American literature was fueled with racial segregation and pride in ones race during the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston offers a different and controversial approach with her literary work “How it feels to be colored me”.(13) In the works Hurston uses several colloquialisms, anecdotes, imagery and figurative expression to invite the reader on an adventure filled with pleasure. The poem takes the reader from the beginning of the Hurston’s childhood back in Eatonville, Florida into adulthood in Orlando, Florida. Hurston proves that overcoming racism can be accomplished by uniting the public and ignoring the visual difference in a person’s outer appearance. Hurston’s strength, individuality and resilience scream

Hurston, on the other hand, lived in a town where only blacks lived until she was thirteen years old. Therefore, she only knew the “black” self. There was no second identity to contend with. She states that “white people differed from colored to me only in that they rode through town and never lived there.”2 She does not feel anger when she is discriminated against. She only wonders how anyone can not want to be in her company. She “has no separate feeling about being an American citizen and colored” (Hurston 1712).

In Zora Neale Hurston’s essay “How It Feels To Be Colored Me”, her racial identity varies based on her location. Towards the beginning of her life when Zora was in her own community she could be a lighthearted, carefree spirit. However, when she was forced to leave her community, Zora’s identity became linked to her race. In this essay I will demonstrate how Zora’s blackness is both a sanctuary and completely worthless.

The memoir “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston, was first published in 1928, and recounts the situation of racial discrimination and prejudice at the time in the United States. The author was born into an all-black community, but was later sent to a boarding school in Jacksonville, where she experienced “race” for the first time. Hurston not only informs the reader how she managed to stay true to herself and her race, but also inspires the reader to abandon any form of racism in their life. Especially by including Humor, Imagery, and Metaphors, the author makes her message very clear: Everyone is equal.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s short story “Sweat” and her essay “How It Feels to Be the Colored Me,” illustrates how women are marginalized and treated, but had these texts been written at a different time, place, language, or to a different audience, it would differ.

How It Feels to be Colored Me is an essay by Zora Neale Hurston published in the World Tomorrow on May 1928. In the essay she describes her first experience with racism. The purpose of the piece is to show self-confidents and pride in her identity. She shows the reader the positives of embracing your identity and not letting society affect your true selves. Stating “I’m not ashamed to be colored.” (pg.416), meaning that no matter what anyone saying about her being black, she still has pride in herself.

Even though both Hurston and Hughes grew up around the same time period, they had very different ideals regarding their experience as African American’s as well as a different voice used within their works to convey their ideals. Hurston in her 1928 essay “How it Feels to be Colored Me” describes her childhood and coming of age with a delightful zest that cannot be contained. Although the essay does contain some dark moments such as when she describes her experience with her friend at the jazz club and the sudden realization of the racial difference between her and the other patrons, for the most part the work exudes her keen sense of dignity despite the popular opinion of the masses during that period. Lines in her essay such as “But I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes…I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it” (Abcarian, Klotz, and Cohen 812) beautifully express her sense of self dignity and refusal to give in to the negative energies surrounding her race. Despite the many hardships that the color of her skin caused her she was proud and determined to never let that stand in her way of

One of Hurston’s stories, How it Feels to Be Colored Me, reflects the author’s perspective of the colored race (specifically herself). According to the story, when Hurston reached the age of thirteen, she truly “became colored” (1040). The protagonist was raised in Eatonville, Florida, which was mainly inhabited by the colored race. She noted no difference between herself and the white community except that they never lived in her hometown. Nevertheless, upon leaving Eatonville, the protagonist began losing her identity as “Zora,” instead, she was recognized as only being “a little colored girl” (1041). Hurston’s nickname “Zora” represents her individuality and significance; whereas, the name “a little colored girl” was created by a white society to belittle her race and gender (1041).

In “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston, she intrigues me with her imagery, which plays in when say talks about the music and how it made her see herself in colors. “ It constricts the thorax and splits the heart with its tempo and narcotic harmonies.(...) I dance wildly inside myself; I yell within, I whoop; (...) My face is painted red and yellow and my body is painted blue.” (2) It intrigues me that she felt so proud in her skin, even when she was surrounded by (pardon me) white people. Even now, though we claim racism isn’t as bad as it was, I am still not comfortable with my skin, and it intrigues me she is. At that time, it intrigues me that she overlooks her skin color and focuses on her feelings. We should all worry

“How It Feels to Be Colored Me” is written by Zora Hurston about her feeling toward her race. Before she got thirteen she didn't have much reason to feel her race is making discrimination for her but when she left home in thirteen years old for education in new school in Jacksonville ( there was no more all-black people) she felt more distance between races. While she was in Florida she was “ everybody’s Zoha” but when she moved she felt her color is making difference .

Part I: While reading Zora Neale Hurston’s “How it Feels to be Colored Me” after I had referenced the historical timeline there were definitely some events within the prior twenty years that could have had an effect on Hurston’s essay. One event that stuck out the most was the race riots that erupted in Chicago in 1919. During the essay Hurston is bringing to light the discrimination she has experienced throughout her life. In doing so she is bringing attention to the problem and fighting for equal rights with her literature.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s Characteristics of Negro Expression, great perspective on the history and prevalence that African American culture has had on American society is provided. In the essay, Hurston speaks as a cultural mediator as she explains black behavior and language. To begin, Hurston discussed several topics that sets African Americans and Whites apart in terms of cultural diversity. At one point she describes the negro speech as action words while also adding that his interpretation of the English language is in terms of pictures (Gates & Smith, 1051). These descriptions help readers understand the reasoning and meaning behind African Americans speech and language compared to their white counterpart. She goes on stating, “the white

African Americans in our reading were also subject to being outsiders in society. Once again race was a factor in producing these outsiders. David Walker describes the state of African Americans at this time as “wretched and more cruel (they being an enlightened and Christian people) than any heathen nation” (753).Zora Neale Hurston is a perfect illustration of an outsider. From a child, she had been surrounded by only one background and then suddenly at 13 “suffered a sea change” and was sent into this new world (Hurston 2159). She came face to face with her color and the “fast brown-warranted not to neither rub nor run” (Hurston 2159). She felt color most when “thrown against a sharp white background” (2160). This feeling that Hurston had when in mist of different people came from her past experiences that had been pressed against this new background. This different scenery changed her in many ways. She completely transforms from “Zora of Orange County” to “a dark rock surged upon, and over swept” (Hurston 2160). Many African Americans like Hurston were subject to acts of injustice because of their

Thesis Statement: In “The Future as I See It” by Marcus Garvey, “To the White Fiends” by Claude McKay and “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Hurston the authors reflect their attitudes towards White Americans which are bitterness, cynical and indignant. Firstly, one can see the feeling of bitterness towards White Americans are expressed in these works. These feelings are aroused from being discriminated against, slavery, segregation and many other things that oppressed African Americans.

The two authors shared the message on discrimination and stereotypes, which is about race.Black is a race that has been discriminated for centuries all around the world. Hurston, who is black, also has been discriminated. For example, “Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves” (187). The important phrase Hurston uses is “my elbow reminding me”. Hurston informs the reader that someone, particularly white, always reminds her that she will always be black and always a slave in the eyes of white society. Hurston published her story in the 1920s, which was after Civil War, which was about 60 years in the past, and people still want to put down Hurston and the black race. The significance of her story is the relevance it has today. African-Americans still feel oppressed in many ways, after over 50 years of the civil right movement. Racism is worse now than the past. A poll that asks if racism is a big problem? (see fig. 1) The poll shows how big of a problem racism has become.