PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Zora Neale Hurston used anthropology and traveled to inspire her work. Her travels through the American south and the Caribbean as well as her time living in Honduras sparked books such as "Mules and Men" and "Seraph on the Suwanee." Hurston, through these works, helped develop a common identity for her people.
"Their Eyes Were Watching God" is a love story about Janie Crawford, a young teenager turning into a women. The novel was poorly presented because of the way she believed that women would have the same power as men. This impacted the world because it advocated an uplift program to improve the image of African Americans in society.
One of Zora's earliest works was published in the Howard University literary magazine in 1921, and later received recognition for it in the New York magazine Opportunity in 1925. A series of other events led her to move to New York.
In 1930, Hurston began to write a comedy play on African American life called Mules and Men with fellow African American Langston Hughes who was also very influentional on the Harlem
Rennaissance.
Percy Punter, a singer in The Great Day, became a influential figure for Zora and her writing. When Zora was 44 and Percy 23 they fell in love. Zora wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God when Percy asked her to quit her career and marry him, Zora said that she "had things clawing inside [her] that must be said," refusing his offer. In return she wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God to "embalm all the tenderness of her passion for him."
Zora Neale Hurston never did address the issue of racism of whites toward blacks, but she did have many representations of African Americans in her novels. Most critics have praised her for her way of speech that she used in many of her books. Zora was one of the biggest inspirations in the civil rights movement and will always be remembered as one.
Zora Neale Hurston created the magazine "Fire!" which featured works and writings of writers in the Harlem Rennaissance. This magazine impacted Harlem overall because writers could get their ideas out into the world while encouraging other writers to be courageous with their opinions.
