The Harlem Renaissance

How It Feels to Be Colored Me

RI 1 Cite textual evidence to Essay by Zora Neale Hurston
support analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the
text. RI 2 Determine two or more Meet the Author
central ideas of a text and analyze
their development over the course
of the text. RI 5 Analyze and
evaluate the effectiveness of the Zora Neale Hurston c. 1891–1960
structure an author uses in his
or her exposition or argument, Raised in the all-black town of Eatonville, American to do so—Hurston returned
including whether the structure Florida, Zora Neale Hurston followed her to the South to collect African-American
makes points clear, convincing,
and engaging. RI 10 Read mother’s advice to “jump at de sun”—to folklore. “I had to go back, dress as they
and comprehend literary follow her dreams, no matter how did, talk as they did, live their life,” she
nonfiction. L 3a Apply an
understanding of syntax to the impossible they seemed. In 1925, she said, “so I could get into my stories the
study of complex texts when arrived in New York with “$1.50, no job, world I knew as a child.” The lively,
reading.
no friends, and a lot of hope.” Hurston’s hilarious stories she collected soon
flair, talent, and sheer nerve soon made became material for her own fiction. In
did you know? her one of the leading African-American the 1930s and ’40s, she published a series
Zora Neale Hurston . . . novelists of the 1930s. of major works, including the folklore
• dressed so flamboyantly collection Mules and Men (1935), the
Early Days When Hurston was 13 years
that one acquaintance novel Their Eyes Were Watching God
old, her family life fell apart. Her mother
referred to her as a (1937), and her autobiography, Dust
died, her father remarried, and by the age
“macaw of brilliant Tracks on a Road (1942).
plumage.” of 14, Hurston was on her own. Working
an endless series of menial jobs, Hurston Down But Not Out Hurston often came
• shocked some people by
wearing pants in public. tried for years to earn enough money under fire by African-American writers who
to send herself back to school. After 12 felt she minimized the seriousness of racial
• became a fan of British
poet John Milton after years of trials and adventures, she finally prejudice. By the late 1940s, her books
rescuing one of his completed high school and scraped had fallen out of favor and out of print.
books from the trash. together a year’s tuition for Howard During the last 20 years of her life, Hurston
University, “the Negro Harvard,” where struggled to earn a living, once again
in 1921 she published her first story. working as a maid to pay her bills. In 1960,
Hurston died in a welfare home, poor and
Collector of Stories By
nearly forgotten, and was buried in an
1925, Hurston’s efforts began to pay
unmarked grave in Fort Pierce, Florida.
off. She won a scholarship
sch to
Thanks to the efforts of author Alice
College, where
Barnard Colle
Walker, Hurston’s work was rediscovered in
she studied wwith the
the 1970s. Hurston is now acknowledged
anthropologists
renowned ant
as an influential figure in the history of
Franz Boas and Ruth
African-American literature.
Benedict. After graduating
from Barnard in 1928—
the first known African
A
Author Online
Go to thinkcentral.com. KEYWORD: HML11-898

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 text analysis: rhetorical techniques
Famously outspoken, Zora Neale Hurston wasn’t afraid to stand
out from the crowd in a unique way. In this essay, Hurston uses the
following rhetorical techniques to discuss her views about race.
What makes
• repetition—when a sound, word, phrase, or line is repeated
for emphasis or unity.
you you?
• parallel structure—the use of similar grammatical Think of the things that make you
constructions to express ideas that are related or equal in unique: your style, your sense of humor,
importance. the way you keep your head (or don’t)
when things get tense. Of all the
As you read, notice how Hurston uses these rhetorical qualities and behaviors that make you
techniques to make her ideas come alive. who you are, which ones do you think
best define your personality?
reading skill: identify main ideas
You know that the main idea of a paragraph is the basic point
it makes. Sometimes, the main idea is explicit, or directly
stated in the text. However, main ideas may also be implicit—
suggested or hinted at by the details in the text. In such
cases, you’ll need to analyze the details the author presents to
discover the main idea.
The Insider’s Guide to Me
As you read, use a chart like the one shown to record the
main idea of each paragraph. If the main idea is implicit, note 1. To find me in a crowd, look/
listen for ____________.
key details that helped you identify the main idea.
2. The story my friends/family all
Paragraph Main Idea Key Details tell about me is ____________.
1 I’m not ashamed to offers no “extenuating 3. Most people in school know
be colored. circumstances” me as ____________.
4. The thing I do that is most
“me” is ____________.
vocabulary in context
Hurston uses the following words to make her points about
African-American identity. Restate each phrase, using a
different word or words for the boldfaced term.
1. collected a miscellany of objects on her travels
2. did not use pigmentation to judge character
3. excused from penalties because of extenuating factors
4. dressed in colorful raiment
5. spoke exultingly of her triumphs
6. saw herself as cosmic rather than small and narrow

Complete the activities in your Reader/Writer Notebook.

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 w It Feels to
o B
H Colored Me

e
Zora Neale Hurston

background Between 1865 and 1900, more than 100 independent towns were Analyze Visuals
founded by African Americans trying to escape racial prejudice. Eatonville, Florida, What words would you
a small town just north of Orlando, was the oldest of these self-governing black use to describe the girl in
communities. Growing up in Eatonville, Zora Neale Hurston was sheltered from the painting? Identify the
the experiences of exclusion and contempt that shaped the lives of many African techniques or elements
Americans. As you read this essay, think about how these early experiences that lend her these
influenced Hurston’s opinions on race. qualities.

I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except extenuating
the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the (Gk-stDnPyL-aQtGng) adj.
lessening the severity of
mother’s side was not an Indian chief. extenuate v.
I remember the very day that I became colored. Up to my thirteenth year I
lived in the little Negro town of Eatonville, Florida. It is exclusively a colored
town. The only white people I knew passed through the town going to or coming
from Orlando. The native whites rode dusty horses, the Northern tourists chugged
down the sandy village road in automobiles. The town knew the Southerners and
never stopped cane chewing when they passed. But the Northerners were something
10 else again. They were peered at cautiously from behind curtains by the timid. The
a RHETORICAL
more venturesome would come out on the porch to watch them go past and got just TECHNIQUES
as much pleasure out of the tourists as the tourists got out of the village. a Reread lines 4–12.
The front porch might seem a daring place for the rest of the town, but it was Which lines have parallel
a gallery seat to me. My favorite place was atop the gate-post. Proscenium box for structures? How do
these comparisons help
a born first-nighter.1 Not only did I enjoy the show, but I didn’t mind the actors you understand more
knowing that I liked it. I actually spoke to them in passing. I’d wave at them and about Hurston and her
when they returned my salute, I would say something like this: “Howdy-do-well- hometown?

Girl in a Red Dress (1934), Charles Alston.

1. proscenium . . . first-nighter: A proscenium box is a box seat near the stage. A first-nighter is a person Oil on canvas, 71˝ × 55.9˝. © The
who attends the opening night of a performance. Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection
of African American Art. © Estate of
Charles Alston. Courtesy of Michael
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 I-thank-you-where-you-goin’?” Usually automobile or the horse paused at this,
and after a queer exchange of compliments, I would probably “go a piece of the Language Coach
20 way” with them, as we say in farthest Florida. If one of my family happened Fixed Expressions Note
to come to the front in time to see me, of course negotiations would be rudely “negotiations would be
. . . broken off” (lines 21–
broken off. But even so, it is clear that I was the first “welcome-to-our-state”
22). A fixed expression,
Floridian, and I hope the Miami Chamber of Commerce will please take notice. or standard combination
During this period, white people differed from colored to me only in that they of words, break off
rode through town and never lived there. They liked to hear me “speak pieces” negotiations means
and sing and wanted to see me dance the parse-me-la,2 and gave me generously of “stop negotiations.”
What must the fixed
their small silver for doing these things, which seemed strange to me for I wanted expressions enter into
to do them so much that I needed bribing to stop. Only they didn’t know it. The negotiations and resume
colored people gave no dimes. They deplored any joyful tendencies in me, but negotiations mean?
30 I was their Zora nevertheless. I belonged to them, to the nearby hotels, to the
county—everybody’s Zora.
But changes came in the family when I was thirteen, and I was sent to school
in Jacksonville. I left Eatonville, the town of the oleanders,3 as Zora. When I
disembarked from the riverboat at Jacksonville, she was no more. It seemed that I
had suffered a sea change.4 I was not Zora of Orange County any more, I was now
a little colored girl. I found it out in certain ways. In my heart as well as in the
mirror, I became a fast brown—warranted not to rub nor run.
But I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my
soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the
40 sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them
pigmentation
a low-down dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it. Even in the (pGgQmEn-tAPshEn) n.
helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong coloring
regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world—I
am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.5 b b MAIN IDEAS
Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the grand-daughter State the main idea
of lines 38–44. What
of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slavery is sixty years in the past.
criticism is implied by the
The operation was successful and the patient is doing well, thank you. The terrible author’s statement?
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
50 off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep. c RHETORICAL
Slavery is the price I paid for civilization, and the choice was not with me. It is a TECHNIQUES
bully adventure and worth all that I have paid through my ancestors for it. No one Reread lines 45–48. What
on earth ever had a greater chance for glory. The world to be won and nothing to important word does
Hurston repeat in these
be lost. It is thrilling to think—to know that for any act of mine, I shall get twice sentences? What effect
as much praise or twice as much blame. It is quite exciting to hold the center of does this repetition have
the national stage, with the spectators not knowing whether to laugh or to weep. c on Hurston’s message?

2. parse-me-la: a dance movement popular with Southern African Americans of the period.
3. oleanders (IPlC-BnQdErz): evergreen shrubs with fragrant flowers.
4. sea change: complete transformation.
5. oyster knife: a reference to the saying “The world is my oyster,” implying that the world contains
treasure waiting to be taken, like the pearl in an oyster.

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 Empress of the Blues (1974), Romare Bearden. Collage, 36˝ × 48˝. Photo © Smithsonian American Art Museum/Art
Resource, New York. © The Romare Bearden Foundation/Licensed by VAGA, New York.

The position of my white neighbor is much more difficult. No brown specter

Language Coach
pulls up a chair beside me when I sit down to eat. No dark ghost thrusts its leg
Context Clues The words,
against mine in bed. The game of keeping what one has is never so exciting as the
sentences, paragraphs,
60 game of getting. and even punctuation
I do not always feel colored. Even now I often achieve the unconscious Zora marks that surround a
of Eatonville before the Hegira.6 I feel most colored when I am thrown against a word make up its context.
sharp white background. Specter (line 57) means
“visible spirit.” In lines
For instance at Barnard. “Beside the waters of the Hudson”7 I feel my race. 57–59, what context clues
Among the thousand white persons, I am a dark rock surged upon, overswept by can you find for the word
a creamy sea. I am surged upon and overswept, but through it all, I remain myself. specter?
When covered by the waters, I am; and the ebb but reveals me again.
Sometimes it is the other way around. A white person is set down in our
midst, but the contrast is just as sharp for me. For instance, when I sit in the
70 drafty basement that is The New World Cabaret with a white person, my color
comes. We enter chatting about any little nothing that we have in common and
are seated by the jazz waiters. In the abrupt way that jazz orchestras have, this one
plunges into a number. It loses no time in circumlocutions, but gets right down to
business. It constricts the thorax and splits the heart with its tempo and narcotic
harmonies. This orchestra grows rambunctious, rears on its hind legs and attacks

6. Hegira (hG-jFPrE): journey (from the name given to Muhammad’s journey from Mecca to Medina in 622).
7. Barnard . . . Hudson”: Barnard is the college in New York City from which Hurston graduated in 1928.
“Beside the waters . . .” is a reference to the first line of the college song.

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 the tonal veil with primitive fury, rending it, clawing it until it breaks through
to the jungle beyond. I follow those heathen—follow them exultingly. I dance exultingly (Gg-zOltPGng-lC)
wildly inside myself; I yell within, I whoop; I shake my assegai8 above my head, adv. joyfully
I hurl it true to the mark yeeeeooww! I am in the jungle and living in the jungle
80 way. My face is painted red and yellow, and my body is painted blue. My pulse is
throbbing like a war drum. I want to slaughter something—give pain, give death
to what, I do not know. But the piece ends. The men of the orchestra wipe their
lips and rest their fingers. I creep back slowly to the veneer we call civilization
with the last tone and find the white friend sitting motionless in his seat, smoking
calmly. d MAIN IDEAS
“Good music they have here,” he remarks, drumming the table with his Describe the two
fingertips. responses that are
Music! The great blobs of purple and red emotion have not touched him. He contrasted in lines
88–91. What does this
has only heard what I felt. He is far away and I see him but dimly across the ocean contrast imply about
90 and the continent that have fallen between us. He is so pale with his whiteness the differences between
then and I am so colored. d whites and blacks?
At certain times I have no race, I am me. When I set my hat at a certain angle
and saunter down Seventh Avenue, Harlem City, feeling as snooty as the lions
in front of the Forty-Second Street Library, for instance. So far as my feelings are
concerned, Peggy Hopkins Joyce on the Boule Mich9 with her gorgeous raiment, raiment (rAPmEnt) n.
stately carriage, knees knocking together in a most aristocratic manner, has clothing; garments
nothing on me. The cosmic Zora emerges. I belong to no race nor time, I am the
cosmic (kJzPmGk) adj. of or
eternal feminine with its string of beads. relating to the universe
I have no separate feeling about being an American citizen and colored. I
100 am merely a fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the boundaries. My
country, right or wrong.
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!
It’s beyond me.
But in the main, I feel like a brown bag of miscellany propped against a wall. miscellany (mGsPE-lAQnC)
Against a wall in company with other bags, white, red, and yellow. Pour out the n. a mixture of various
things
contents, and there is discovered a jumble of small things priceless and worthless.
A first-water10 diamond, an empty spool, bits of broken glass, lengths of string,
a key to a door long since crumbled away, a rusty knife-blade, old shoes saved for
110 a road that never was and never will be, a nail bent under the weight of things too
heavy for any nail, a dried flower or two, still a little fragrant. In your hand is the e e GRAMMAR AND STYLE
brown bag. On the ground before you is the jumble it held—so much like the Reread lines 105–111.
Note how Hurston uses
jumble in the bags, could they be emptied, that all might be dumped in a single
sentence fragments to
heap and the bags refilled without altering the content of any greatly. A bit of highlight specific details
colored glass more or less would not matter. Perhaps that is how the Great Stuffer in her description.
of Bags filled them in the first place—who knows? 

8. assegai (BsPE-gFQ): a type of light spear used in southern Africa.

9. Peggy . . . Boule Mich: a wealthy woman of Hurston’s day, walking along the Boulevard Saint-Michel
in Paris.
10. first-water: of the highest quality or purity.

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 After Reading

Comprehension
1. Recall In Hurston’s description, what kind of community was Eatonville? RI 1 Cite textual evidence to
support analysis of what the
2. Recall What was the big change Hurston experienced at age 13? text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the
3. Paraphrase What is Hurston’s view on slavery? text. RI 2 Determine two or more
central ideas of a text and analyze
their development over the course
Text Analysis of the text. RI 5 Analyze and
evaluate the effectiveness of the
structure an author uses in his
4. Identify Main Ideas Review the chart you created as you read. What is the main or her exposition or argument,
idea of the essay? In what ways does race shape Hurston’s sense of identity? including whether the structure
makes points clear, convincing,
and engaging. RI 10 Read
5. Analyze Rhetorical Techniques What effect is created by Hurston’s use of and comprehend literary
rhetorical techniques to show how she belonged in Eatonville (lines 30–31), nonfiction. L 3a Apply an
understanding of syntax to the
to reveal her thoughts at Barnard (lines 64–67), and to emphasize her study of complex texts when
connection with jazz (lines 68–85). reading.

6. Make Inferences Judging from the anecdotes Hurston includes in her

essay, what experiences and traits does she consider distinctively African-
American? Support your answer with details.
7. Interpret Analogy An analogy is a comparison using one thing or idea to
make sense of another. Look at the analogy in lines 105–116. What is being
compared? Be sure to explain each part of the analogy, including the colored
bags, the “Great Stuffer of Bags,” and the bags’ contents.

8. Compare and Contrast Author’s Perspectives Hurston’s views set her apart
from most of her Harlem Renaissance contemporaries. Choose one of the poets
you have read in this unit, and use a chart like the one shown to contrast his
perspectives with Hurston’s.
Hurston’s Views __________’s Views
What similarities and
differences do you find? What Defines Black Identity

Goals of Black Writers

Text Criticism
Opinions of Whites
9. Critical Interpretations
The author Alice Walker, one
of Hurston’s greatest admirers, finds Hurston’s views sometimes “exasperating.”
She notes that this essay “presents two stereotypes: the ‘happy darky’ who sings
and dances for white folks, for money and for joy; and the educated black person
who is, underneath the thin veneer of civilization, still a ‘heathen.’” Do you
agree with Walker’s views? Why or why not? Be specific in your response.

What makes you you?

Those who study people often debate whether nature or nurture most defines
someone’s personality. In other words, is the person born that way or is he or
she shaped more by the environment. What do you think? Do you believe your
personality is shaped more by nature or nurture? Explain your answer.

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 Vocabulary in Context
vocabulary practice word list
Choose the word that is not related in meaning to the other words. cosmic

1. (a) collection, (b) miscellany, (c) regulation, (d) assortment extenuating

2. (a) apparel, (b) clothing, (c) weathering, (d) raiment exultingly

miscellany
3. (a) vast, (b) cosmic, (c) universal, (d) fictional
pigmentation
4. (a) shading, (b) pigmentation, (c) zoology, (d) coloration
raiment
5. (a) determinedly, (b) exultingly, (c) delightedly, (d) ecstatically
6. (a) extenuating, (b) moderating, (c) mitigating, (d) exaggerating

academic vocabulary in speaking

• conclude • criteria • despite • justify • maintain

Zora Neale Hurston was upbeat and positive despite being the grand-daughter
L 4b Identify and correctly use
of slaves. In a group, discuss how the past influences the future. Do difficulties patterns of word changes that
in the past justify someone being angry and resentful today? Use at least three indicate different meanings or
parts of speech. L 6 Acquire and
Academic Vocabulary words in your discussion. use accurately general academic
and domain-specific words and
phrases.
vocabulary strategy: the greek root cosm or cosmo
The origin of the root word cosm, which may also be spelled
microcosm
cosmo, is the Greek language. Cosm is derived from the Greek
word kosmos, meaning “world” or “universe.” This Greek root cosmic
cosmopolitan
is found in the vocabulary word cosmic as well as a number of
cosm,
other English words. You can use your knowledge of the origin
cosmo
and meaning of this root word, in addition to the context of a cosmology
cosmography
word, to help determine the word’s meaning.
cosmonaut
PRACTICE Apply what you know about the Greek root cosm or
cosmo to the words in the web. Then, choose the word from the
web that best completes each sentence. If you need to, consult a dictionary.
1. Many myths of creation also include a , or a theory of the universe.
2. A is an explorer of outer space.
3. The science called includes astronomy, geography, and geology. Interactive
Vocabulary
4. A can be any type of miniature community or world. Go to thinkcentral.com.
KEYWORD: HML11-906
5. A person tends to have a sophisticated view of the world.

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 Language
grammar and style: Vary Sentence Structure L 1a Apply the understanding that
usage is a matter of convention,
Review the Grammar and Style note on page 904. Zora Neale Hurston’s can change over time, and is
independent and unconventional personality shines through in her writing sometimes contested. L 3a Vary
syntax for effect, consulting
style. She wasn’t afraid to bend the rules of formal writing, adding punch and references for guidance as
emphasis through the use of sentence fragments. Here are two examples from needed. W 3 Write narratives to
develop imagined experiences or
the essay: events using effective technique,
well-chosen details, and well-
I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background. structured event sequences.
For instance at Barnard. (lines 62–64)
I am merely a fragment of the Great Soul that surges within the boundaries.
My country, right or wrong. (lines 99–101)
The fragment “My country, right or wrong” brings the reader to an abrupt halt,
creating a dramatic and strong statement. The change in sentence rhythm helps
emphasize the finality of Hurston’s belief about her place in the world.

PRACTICE Rewrite the following paragraph in Zora Neale Hurston’s style,

incorporating one or two intentional sentence fragments. Add or delete any
words as necessary.
My parents were always finding opportunities to point out how much the
world owed to China. We learned that our Chinese ancestors had invented
paper, books, kites, gunpowder, compasses, fishing reels, and umbrellas. Was
there anything that hadn’t been invented by the Chinese? One day we went
to eat at an Italian restaurant. As I dug into my plate of pasta, I told my mom,
“Well, here’s one thing the Chinese didn’t invent.” I was wrong! The Chinese
invented pasta, she explained, and they invented restaurants, too!

reading-writing connection


YOUR Expand your understanding of Hurston’s essay by responding to this
prompt. Then, use the revising tips to improve your essay.
TURN

writing prompt revising tips

WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY • Focus on one or two impor-
Imagine that you have entered a tant details about your
writing contest sponsored by a heritage heritage.
society. Draft a three-to-five-paragraph • Use personal examples,
autobiographical essay, modeled after explanations, and anecdotes
Hurston’s essay, in which you share your to show why your heritage is
feelings about your own heritage. In important.
your essay, include at least two sentence Interactive
• End with a conclusion that Revision
fragments that help emphasize important
wraps up the thoughts in
points. Go to thinkcentral.com.
your essay.
KEYWORD: HML11-907

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