“No, I do not weep at the world—” resolutely declares Zora Neale Hurston, born just 26 years after the freedom of enslaved people in the United States, “I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.” In her 1928 essay, How It Feels to be Colored Me, Hurston details her experience as a black woman in the early twentieth century. Presenting her perspective on race, she asserts that skin color does not limit neither her, nor anyone, to achieve what one desires; she is not “tragically colored.”
Hurston emerged as a prominent author of the Harlem Renaissance, a revival of African American culture during the 1920s. Publishing four novels and upwards of 50 other works, Hurston left a legacy of African American representation in literature. Westmont students might know her from teacher Chris Haskett, whose AP Language class studies Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God. Following a young African American woman named Janie Crawford, the classic work explores a woman’s life in one of the first all-black cities in America: Eatonville, Florida. Hurston illustrates concepts of domestic violence, sexism, and personal identity for an African American woman—concepts rarely discussed in the then-segregated nation.
Despite Hurston’s abundance of contributions to the literary community, her work did not reach its peak recognition until after her passing. Yet today, she is revered as one of the most influential writers of her time. Hurston encapsulates her motivation in life:
“The terrible struggle that made me an American out of a potential slave said “On the line!” The Reconstruction said “Get set!”; and the generation before said “Go!” I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep.”
A renowned author and anthropologist, Barnard University’s first black graduate, a woman known for her courage and wit—truly, Hurston did not halt in the stretch.