MajorWorksDataSheet-DanvilleHighSchool.docVIP

AP English: Literature and Composition Names_____________________________________ Major Works Data Sheet Title: _________Their Eyes Were Watching God_______ Author: ____________Zora Neale Hurston___________ Date of Publication: ___________1937______________ Genre: ___________novel___________________________ ____________________________________________________ Historical information about the period of publication: The decade of the roaring twenties, a pivotal and turbulent one in American history, was also a period of unprecedented flowering of Black culture, encompassing literature, the visual and plastic arts, as well as the performing arts. Harlem, an area in upper Manhattan where the Black community had been residing since the beginning of the century, became the epicenter of Black cultural life. Life a magnet, Harlems fame also drew aspiring Black writers from all over the United States and the West Indies into its precincts. For almost two decades (1917-1935), they supplied art to the world. Many southern rural Black Americans came to Harlem in search of economic opportunity and a haven from racial oppression. They brought with them the wealth of oral tradition, regional speech patterns, and rhythms, including the blues and jazz. Black magazines Opportunity and Crisis provided the stimulus for literary competitions. But the greatest stimulus was the extraordinary wealth of talent compressed into a small section of the big city. Source: /HarlemRenaissance.html Biographical information about the author: Hurston was born in Eatonville, Florida, to John Hurston, a carpenter and Baptist preacher, and Lucy Ann Potts Hurston, a former country school teacher. In 1918 she graduated from Morgan Academy and entered Howard University. Hurstons first short story was published in Stylus, Howard Universitys literary magazine. She was an active participant in the Harlem Renaissance, associating with such writers as W. E. B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, a