Zora Neale Hurston was an influential author during the Harlem Renaissance. She was born in 1891 in Alabama and attended Howard University and Barnard College. Her most famous work was Their Eyes Were Watching God, published in 1937 about a woman from Hurston's hometown of Eatonville, Florida. Some of her other works included short story collections that drew from her childhood memories of life in Eatonville. Hurston moved back to Eatonville in her later years and died in poverty, with much of her work misunderstood at the time.
2. Beginnings Born on January 7th, 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama Father was a Baptist Preacher and later a mayor of a black community in Eatonville, FL Attended Howard University Graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University (1928)
3. Harlem Renaissance Artistic and Creative Movement in African-American Community Harlem, 1929 Hurston moved to New York City in 1925, was drawn by the new and creative things going on
4. Most Popular Work of Literature Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) About a woman from Hurston’s town of Eatonville, FL. Most successful and accepted piece
5. Remainder of Life Moved back to hometown of Eatonville, FL 1960 Died in poverty and most of her work went misunderstood
6. The Eatonville Anthology (1926) This piece by Zora Neale Hurston has 14 parts with some of the events described in the story actually occurred in Eatonville. Based on childhood memories, jokes, folktales Each excerpt has an indefinite background that relates to the reader and reflects Zora’s strong demeanor towards Eatonville.
7. The Eatonville Anthology cont. The stories titles include The Pleading Woman, Turpentine Love, Tippy, The Way of a Man with a Train, Coon Taylor, Village Fiction, Double Shuffle, The Head of the Nail, Pants and Cal’line and five excerpts that are untitled.
8. How It Feels to Be Colored Me (1928) In this lovely illustrated story, Zora reflects her proud mindset of being a lady of color and how the world is consumed with discrimination. Zora implemented her creativity by distinguishing her life as a young girl living in a Negro Town of Eatonville in Florida. She later faces a vast amount of discrimination, but she refuses to see the differences in herself and other people.
9. How it Feels to be Colored Me cont. Zora even reflects the point of her family history of being captives of slavery, but this does not depress her. Zora states in reflection of how she feels…. “Sometimes I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me.”
10. The Gilded Six-Bits (1933) This story is based on a young couple who find conflict in their marriage based on decisions from their attraction to wealth. Missie May and Joe initially start off happy without being wealthy and Missie becomes quite fond of the sweet gestures and gifts that Joe constantly provides. When Joe meets the new face in town, Otis D. Slemmons, his wealth consumes Joe and he is eager to let Missie May know, not realizing this would skew Missie May’s image of their own marriage.
11. The Gilded Six-Bits cont. Later , Joe comes home and finds his wife in bed with Mr. Slemmons. When Mr. Slemmonsdecides to leave, he left behind a gold coin. Joe carried the coin around and to him it symbolized the affair that he brought on himself. Joe later realizes that the gold coin is a gilded half dollar. This man was not rich, but a manipulator and cheater. And this affair was for nothing. After time passes Missie May finds out she is pregnant, but Joe is on edge; this may not be his child. After the baby’s birth Joe is convinced that the baby is his and decided to use this gilded coin to buy his wife sweets and from here they endure true happiness.
