Their Eyes Were Watching God —an introduction—

Zora Neale Hurston 1891-1960

Raised in Eatonville, Florida She was the 5th of 8 children Her father was a Baptist preacher, farmer, and carpenter: he was also half black, half white. Her mother was a teacher. Her parent’s ethnicity and occupations greatly influenced her literature She graduated from Columbia University (where she was the only black student) with a B.A. in anthropology in 1928 Published 4 novels and over 50 short stories: best known for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (published 1937) Most of her writing was done during the Harlem Renaissance (1920s & 30s) A short video about the Harlem Renaissance FYI: you may want to mention that her mother was 100% African America Note: TEWWG was published in 1937, but the bulk of it was written in the early 30s -- The video is 3 minutes --

In 2005 Halle Barry stared in a film adaptation of Their Eyes… After her death many of her works fell into obscurity because readers then objected to her African-American colloquial diction and phonetic spelling Today, most scholars praise her use of these Starting in the mid-70’s, Hurston’s works resurfaced as literary masterpieces Famed authors like Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, & Toni Morrison helped bring her works into today’s literary canon In 2005 Halle Barry stared in a film adaptation of Their Eyes… You’ll have an opportunity to watch this for extra credit next month Let’s watch a short bio. pic. about Hurston -- the video is 1½ minutes --

Reading Deadlines Chapters 1-10: due February 23rd Chapters 11-20: due February 29th Remember to work on your RJ questions while you read as well as answering them in full after you finish the work as whole.