BY: HANNAH FOUST Their Eyes Were Watching God Activity

Mary Reynolds: Was very close with Dr. Kilpatricks daughter Ended up being a free woman, although she became blind Lived with her family-mother, father, siblings Before Reynolds was free, she had a very harsh life getting beat and plowing the fields

Nanny Crawford: Very protective over Janie Didn’t want her to end up like her mother-raped by a white man Nanny cared for all the children Had no family, other than Janie

Similarities: Reynolds and Nanny both lived in their slave owners back yard Both had very good relationships with their slave owners Reynolds is very similar to Janie-grew up with white children, married a man she didn’t want to Both women were beat

A letter to Janie: Dear Janie, You may think your grandmother is a harsh and mean woman right now because you’re so young and naïve to the world, but she has experienced just about everything there is to experience, especially as a slave. She has single-handedly raised her grandchild as her own and cared for the children for whom she is “owned” under. This isn’t an easy task for anyone and she wants what is best for you in the long run, even though you hate it right now. She doesn’t want you to run off with Johnny Taylor, much like your mother did when she was about your age. Nanny just wants you to marry someone who she believes will treat you right and someone who will make you a married woman so you don’t have to be a slave. She wants you to have a good life that was intended for you and to not follow in the footsteps of her or your mother, in which you do not know. Marrying at seventeen years old doesn’t sound like the ideal thing to do right now because you are concerned with outliving your spouse, however if something was to happen to Mr. Killicks, you would inherit the 60 acres of land that he has. Your grandmother worked very, very hard for the home that she has provided for you and herself. Upon marrying Logan, you have gotten the “easy way out” of things and you will now have a home, a husband who loves you, and all this land for Logan and yourself. Your expectations that you have been experiencing with Johnny Taylor are not only very high, but they are also very unrealistic. Marriage is not all-smooth sailing, as you think it is. It’s hard, you’re going to have fights and disagreements, but you will always work through them.

As for your Nanny, being a slave has been a very rough life, she was beat and forced to work for people doing very strenuous labor for basically nothing, other than a place to live. Your nanny has been lucky enough to find a slave owner who doesn’t beat her and gives her a place to live in their backyard. You yourself have been lucky, although you may not realize it. You aren’t beat, you have food, shelter, clothes on your back, and a place to get an education. Your nanny, however was not so lucky, she had to work for everything she got and still barely met the minimum for what she wanted. -Hannah Foust