Zora Hurston

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In Zora Hurston’s essay, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” she discusses numerous ways of how she perceives her own race. During the Harlem Renaissance, 1920s, many artists expressed their difference through their work individually and Hurston was no different. Of the many different theorists, two emerged and became extremely prominent in the new black representation movement. The two theorists were Langston Hughes and W.E.B. Du Bois. In this essay Hurston communicates to the reader that she is herself without being censored. This is a way of thinking that would best resonate with Langston Hughes’s argument of black representation in the 1920’s. Hughes would agree because he believes that all African-Americans should be candid and uncensored …show more content…
This is shown in Hurston’s own words, “I have no race, I am me,” showing just how authentic she really is. (Hurston 829) Throughout the rest of the essay she communicates to the reader of how genuine she actually is. This kind of writing would, theoretically, make Hughes proud. Hughes believed that all persons of color should express themselves without using some ulterior motive, such as using the arts for propaganda. One of the ways Hurston expresses her race is when she is in the jazz club. During her time in the club, she begins to experience an animalistic feeling while the music is playing. Soon, after the end of the song, she describes a white man that “only heard what I felt.” (Hurston 828) This description shows a discrepancy between the two races. She goes on to further the difference by saying “he is so pale…I am so colored,” to emphasize the difference. (Hurston 829). Hughes and Hurston show a candid way of describing the major differences between races, whereas Du Bois tries to ignore it. In the 1920s race plays an important role, and Hughes acknowledges that with his theory that black men/women should embrace there race. In the club, Hurston portrays the difference and embraces it. This essay shows that Hurston and Hughes share the same theory of expressing oneself regardless of other motives and
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