Sweat By Zora Neale Hurston Essay

With an official birthdate somewhat in question (most references place it on January 7, while one other lists it as being eight days later) Zora Neale Hurston lived an interesting, and successful, at least literarily, if not monetarily, life. Born in Alabama, to a couple of former slaves, she, however, always considered Eatonville, Florida, where she moved as a young child, as her hometown. Her idyllic and happy childhood found her surrounded by examples of African American successfulness,…

In A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry and Everyday Use by Alice Walker, themes of non-assimilation are very prevalent. Assimilation, in the case of these two stories is where African Americans adapt to white American culture, rather than reverting to traditional African customs. In A Raisin in the Sun, Beneatha Younger is a young African American woman who has a busy love and family life. Dee, or Wangero from Everyday Use, arrives at her childhood home as a completely transformed woman…

The Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance also known as the Black Literary Renaissance and the “New Negro” Movement, was a movement that took place in New York between the years of 1917 to 1935. This movement was marked by the “Great Migration”, where blacks that were settled in the South migrated to the North in search for bigger opportunities and civil rights. During these years Jim Crow laws and slavery were being practiced in the south, which were some of the main factors that caused…

“Part of the reason Hurston takes an indirect approach to race stems from her dependence on white figures who exerted considerable control over her work” (Meisenhelder 268). Hurston depicts counterstories throughout Mules and Men in an entertaining forum, so as not to offend the dominant group that controlled her profession and thus restrict the opportunity…

To achieve a dream is to achieve your horizon. In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston introduced readers to the value of the horizon by the main character in the book Janie who played a role in achieving her horizon. Janie was on a search for her horizon, yet during that search came a journey filled with many obstacles. Janie went through a few obstacles to reach her horizon to the point she ended up having hate towards her Nanny and Joe Starks for trying to take the horizon away…

World War I & Poetry Arising during the 1920’s, a time period where strong animosity ran deep between the colored and the Caucasian, Langston Hughes (who is my favorite poet of all time) shined a luminous spotlight on the African American community through his writing in a way that no other writer during his time was able to match. Amongst other emerging black writers, Hughes led the parade of the Harlem Renaissance where a faucet of culture trickled in self expression through music, art, and…

Zora Neale Hurston once said, “Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company (Hurston, 1928)?” the interpretation of this statement can be many things. However, at the core, it represents the magnitude of the woman, not a woman of any particular ethnicity, but just the idea and definition of what a woman means. The impact of women and the growth and subsequent evolution of women throughout…

Abraham Lincoln’s “Emancipation Proclamation” ensured freedom and a hope for a better life to the African American community. Three decades later, the idea of a better life had been forgotten. Instead, the Black Americans had begun to endure their suffering, pretending that the unfair laws created by the White Americans were fair. Paul Dunbar describes in his poem, “We Wear the Mask,” the roles that African Americans began to play in life in order to survive. In his poem, you are able to…

Great Minds Think Alike Harlem was ignited a movement before its time. Harlem was the location where greatness arose past the crust. The magnificent part about Harlem being this location where many would go to enjoy themselves was that these men and women were not Caucasian male and females, but majestic African-American men and women who would keep their audience dancing every night they would perform. Lorraine Hansberry was born during the Harlem Renaissance to Nannie Hansberry and Carl…

In the 1950’s black people were still suffering from oppression at the hands of white men. Many literary artists wrote about this oppression, despite the violence that might have come their way. “Harlem” is one of these literary works were written in 1951 by Langston Hughes, an American poet, novelist, and social activist. Throughout his life, Hughes published numerous works, most of which portrayed the life of black people, and his work had a major influence on the artistic styles of the Harlem…