Historical Context
By Joshua Gewecke
Zora Neale Hurston wrote “Their Eyes Were Watching God” during a very difficult time for African Americans. The era of her writing was known as the Harlem Renaissance because it was based in the city of Harlem New York (Harlem Renassiance, 2012). As a result of the white supremacy being made in the south, many blacks came up to this city for work. This caused a boom in African American culture. The Harlem Opera House started playing black works such as the Three Plays for a Negro Theatre (Harlem Renassiance, 2012). This was just the beginning of the emerging black arts and entertainment. Another important event in Black entertainment was the foundation of The Voice; the first newspaper of the new black movement. This was a political newspaper, but it also contained poetry and reviews of books (Harlem Renassiance, 2012).
The economic times during the 1930s are among the worst in American history. Hurston was affected by this tragic event as she was writing “Their Eyes Were Watching God” in 1937. The Great Depression put millions of Americans out of work. Billions of dollars vanished in a year’s time. From the crash of the stock market to the financial bankruptcy of banks, people’s money was no longer safe(Shmoop Editorial Team). The financial superiority the whites had over the blacks soon crashed. Now both classes were out of work and struggling to survive. Emerging from this was a group of African colonials in the Cameroons sent a total of $3.77 to New York to help with the relief (Shmoop Editorial Team). Money became a substance that was hard to find.
Hurston was considered of “Americas favorite black conservative” (Zora Neale Hurston, 2012). During the 1930s there were many different political events occurring. One event is the rise of Nazism in Germany in 1933. Roosevelt was the newly elected president during the 1930s and the great depression. He proposed the “New Deal” as a way to combat the great depression. During this time Nora was seen more as a libertarian than she was as a conservative. She wrote about skepticism towards religion and feminism. Many of her works relate to other libertarian writers and were affected by the lack of black women’s rights at the time.
By Joshua Gewecke
Zora Neale Hurston wrote “Their Eyes Were Watching God” during a very difficult time for African Americans. The era of her writing was known as the Harlem Renaissance because it was based in the city of Harlem New York (Harlem Renassiance, 2012). As a result of the white supremacy being made in the south, many blacks came up to this city for work. This caused a boom in African American culture. The Harlem Opera House started playing black works such as the Three Plays for a Negro Theatre (Harlem Renassiance, 2012). This was just the beginning of the emerging black arts and entertainment. Another important event in Black entertainment was the foundation of The Voice; the first newspaper of the new black movement. This was a political newspaper, but it also contained poetry and reviews of books (Harlem Renassiance, 2012).
The economic times during the 1930s are among the worst in American history. Hurston was affected by this tragic event as she was writing “Their Eyes Were Watching God” in 1937. The Great Depression put millions of Americans out of work. Billions of dollars vanished in a year’s time. From the crash of the stock market to the financial bankruptcy of banks, people’s money was no longer safe(Shmoop Editorial Team). The financial superiority the whites had over the blacks soon crashed. Now both classes were out of work and struggling to survive. Emerging from this was a group of African colonials in the Cameroons sent a total of $3.77 to New York to help with the relief (Shmoop Editorial Team). Money became a substance that was hard to find.
Hurston was considered of “Americas favorite black conservative” (Zora Neale Hurston, 2012). During the 1930s there were many different political events occurring. One event is the rise of Nazism in Germany in 1933. Roosevelt was the newly elected president during the 1930s and the great depression. He proposed the “New Deal” as a way to combat the great depression. During this time Nora was seen more as a libertarian than she was as a conservative. She wrote about skepticism towards religion and feminism. Many of her works relate to other libertarian writers and were affected by the lack of black women’s rights at the time.