The Lost Voices Of African-Americans

It is strange that two of the most prominent artists of the Harlem Renaissance could ever disagree as much as or be as different as Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright. Despite the fact that they are the same color and lived during the same time period, they do not have much else in common. On the one hand is Hurston, a female writer who indulges in black art and culture and creates subtle messages throughout her most famous novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. On the other hand is Wright, who is a male writer who demonstrates that whites do not like black people, nor will they ever except for when they are in the condition “…America likes to see the Negro live: between laughter and tears.” Hurston was also a less political writer than

Zora Neale Hurston, known as one of the most symbolic African American women during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1930’s. Hurston was known as a non fiction writer, anthropologist and folklorist. Hurston’s literature has served as a big eye opener during the Harlem Renaissance, celebrating black dialect and their traditions. Most of her published stories “depict relationships among black residents in her native southern Florida, was largely unconcerned with racial injustices” (Bomarito 89). Hurston was unique when it came to her racial point of views, promoting white racism instead of black racism. Even though her works had been forgotten by the time of her death, now her literature has left a bigger impact to future literature

She uses idealistic examples and real world situations to get the best realistic interpretation on the matter of the harlem renaissance. This novel also is a great way to learn and understand the importance of women's roles and rights during the harlem renaissance era for the black/african american women. All in all, Hurston’s depiction of the harlem renaissance reflects and departs the major topics and does so

Feminism and gender equality is one of the most important issues of society today, and the debate dates back much farther than Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. To analyze Janie’s existence as a feminist or anti-feminist character requires a potential critic to look at her relationships and her reactions to those relationships throughout the novel. Trudier Harris claims that Janie is “questing after a kind of worship.” This statement is accurate only up until a certain point in her life, until Janie’s “quest” becomes her seeking equality with her partner. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s main goal pertaining to her romantic relationships undergoes multiple changes from her original goal of a type of worship to a goal to maintain an equal relationship with her husband.

A reflection of the truth. The Harlem Renaissance is real. It is identified as a spiritual re-awakening, a rebirth in culture, a sense of pride and self awareness. However, African Americans were not always allowed this prodigious freedom. Prior to the Harlem Renaissance African Americans were slaves; considered a piece of property who had no rights whatsoever. Despite, their harsh history, Civil Rights were enforced, this helped bring them out of their misery; which is why the harlem renaissance is such an important era for the African American culture. Zora Neale Hurston plays a very critical role in the identification of Harlem Renaissance. She was born in Alabama on January 7, 1891. Both of her parents were former

 Overtime, no matter what kind of circumstance set up towards the term superiority, the meaning of it being expressed has not changed. It has not been expressed differently between any kind of man, even during the early 1900s era where they claimed their dominance over women. Women were put through the same overwhelming motive of repression that man (regardless of the race) had attempted to suffocate them with. It is in the hands of a women on how they take the repression that has been brought upon them by man. Portrayed in Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie is an African American women who endures the superiority of man. As an African American women she is brought up to know when she is allowed to do as she wants and when she is not. She exemplifies the standard view that society has set up for a male to have the last word in the way a female must live their life. Unlike a women who has been pampered her whole life to do as she wants whenever she wants as brought to us by Edna in The Awakening by Kate Chopin. The two must try to coexist within the superiority brought by man.

In the early 1900s, American society was a hierarchy based on race, gender, and wealth. White people were ranked higher than black people, and within each race, the wealthy were higher than the poor, and women were below men. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, these societal expectations, force Janie, a mixed race woman, into relationships with men who fail her. In each relationship, Janie suffers abuse from the men she marries. The violence escalates from verbal abuse to physical abuse. Janie’s infautionation with Tea Cake allows him to manifest his flaws, which ultimately places Janie in a deflamatory relationship.

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston directed her writing towards both men and women, but for different reasons. She wrote to men to make them conscious of how they treated women and that women can do manual labor too. She wrote to women to make them realize that they are equal to men even though they are women. In her writing, she mainly expresses the theme of feminism through the female protagonist, Janie Crawford. Throughout the book, Janie is victimized by several men by being told to do what a women was expected to do, which means that the men thought of her as weak and as a woman that they can tyrannize into doing woman roles. Jody Starks is a major example of a man who thinks that women are not anything other

    It's not chance that the three main characters besides Janie are men. Hurston was writing in a society where men were still dominant in the literary field. The struggle Janie emerged from to find her inner self needed men as a catalyst. The male/female relationship cannot be duplicated with a female/female one. Logan Killick's ownership of her being could not have happened with a woman counterpart. After marrying Killicks for protection rather than love, Janie realizes that she is living Nanny's dreams rather than her own. She also realizes that with protection comes obligation--Killicks feels he deserves to slap her around. With that discovery, she makes

In the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston once said, "I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow damned up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes.... No I do not weep at the world-I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife." (Hardy 131). As one of the most famous Harlem Renaissance writers, Zora Neale Hurston embraced her race and sought to empower other African Americans. She had a big part in the Harlem Renaissance, creating stories that would later be used to inspire other people. The Harlem Renaissance was originally called the New Negro Movement in the early years. It was considered a literary and intellectual movement that created new black cultural expression in the 1920s and 1930s. Since racism was high and

Throughout a fair part of Zora Neal Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie’s low class create problems when it comes to men. She lives with men she does not love because they give her the financial stability she cannot have yet on her own. Janie marries Logan Killicks at a young age even though she does not want to

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist Janie Crawford constantly resists efforts to be “classed off” from other members of her community. Taking place in the early 1900s in the American South, Janie is a fair-skinned African American woman searching for love and identity. As she goes through marriages, Janie gets increasingly closer to finding true love. Her three husbands in order of occurrence are Logan Killicks, Joe Starks, and Vergile Woods. Janie faces the constant struggle of finding true love while still maintaining her social ways.

Both Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes were great writers but their attitudes towards their personal experience as an African American differed in many ways. These differences can be attributed to various reasons that range from gender to life experience but even though they had different perceptions regarding the African American experience, they both shared one common goal, racial equality through art. To accurately delve into the minds of the writers’ one must first consider authors background such as their childhood experience, education, as well their early adulthood to truly understand how it affected their writing in terms the similarities and

The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement in the 1920s that led to the evolution of African-American culture, expression through art, music, and literary works, and the establishment of African roots in America. Zora Neale Hurston contributed to the Harlem Renaissance with her original and enticing stories. However, Hurston’s works are notorious (specifically How it Feels to Be Colored Me and Their Eyes Were Watching God) because they illustrate the author’s view of black women and demonstrate the differences between their views and from earlier literary works.

Growing up, I didn’t learn much about the Harlem Renaissance. In fact, I didn’t learn about the Harlem Renaissance at all until I came to college and took this class. I immediately found myself intrigued with the African American female playwrights, and authors during this period of time. I noticed that most of the writers who were given credit for their works during the Harlem Renaissance were mainly African American men. But I wanted to know more about the African American women during this time period. I had seen enough from the male perspective; I was hungry to find out more about the female perspective. What were their thoughts, portrayals, and views towards their culture, and race? Why were W. E. B. Du Bois, and Langston Hughes taught