Directions: Use the websites provided to find the answers for this Web Quest.

Put your answers on a

sheet of paper.

1. When and where was Zora Neale Hurston born? Where did she move as a young girl?
Zora Neale Hurston was born on Jan. 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama. She moved to Eatonville, Florida, when
she was just a toddler.

http://zoranealehurston.com/about/index.html

2. Given your knowledge of the time and place, what kind of world did Hurston grow up in?
She grew up in a world where she didnt see the bad in the world. Everything was normal, no one was treated
badly. She had a big house and both her mother and father worked.

http://zoranealehurston.com/about/index.html

3. What was the extent of Hurstons education? Considering her gender and color, does this surprise you?
Explain.
She had graduated from Barnard College and during the time period it is surprising that a black female was
able to do that. It should have been recognized a lot more then it was, just because of Im sure it was hard to
get to that point.

http://zoranealehurston.com/about/index.html

Go to the following site for Eatonville, Florida http://townofeatonville.com/

4. When, and by whom, was Eatonville founded?

Eatonville was funded by three Union officers, Captain Josiah Eaton, Captain Lewis Lawrence, and another
who is unknown. In August of 1887, the town received its charter.

5. Who was it named after?

Josiah Eaton

6. What is significant about Eatonville and African-American history?

It was home to a Prepatory High School which taught the local black men to read and write.

7. What kind of achievements is Hurston noted for?

She was noted for the first Black American to collect and publish African-American and Afro-American folklore.

http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/hurston/hurston.htm

8. Use Google to look up The Harlem Renaissance. What was it?

The Harlem Renaissance was a literacy, artistic, and intellectual movement that kindled a new black cultural
Identity.

9. When and where did it occur?

It is considered to have spanned about 1918 until the mid-1930s and occurred in the neighborhood of Harlem,
which is located in New York City.

10. Who were some of the key participants?

Millions of African Americans and legendary talents, James Weldon Johnson, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen,
Lagston Hughes. Zora Neale Hurston, etc.

11. Use Google to look up when (and how) Zora Neale Hurston died.
She died January 28, 1960.

12. Look up a definition of vernacular language. Explain in your own words what the term means and how it
might be applied to the novel we are about to read, which takes place in the Deep South.
It is how a certain group of people or cultural speaks and the type of language they use. It will be applied in the
novel because the characters will probably have a certain type of language and words they use to talk to each
other.

13. Us the following link to explore Hurstons use of Florida as a setting for African American folk life (scroll to
the bottom of page 2 of the document you find there, and read the short article called Scholarly Criticism on
the Use of Florida):

http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00076693/00001

14. Why was Hurston criticized by other African American writers at the end of her literary career?
Because many believed her work did not reflect the growing politicization of African American literature

15. According to Hurston, what role should cultural forms play in the writing of African Americans?
She promoted the unique history and identity associated with African American culture.

Using the same document, scroll down to page 5 to the article Hurston and Hughes: Competing
Public Intellectualism.

16. Explain how Mule Bone was supposed to be an example of real Negro art theatre.
It would present ritualized and commanual patterns emerging from the African American context.

17. According to the article, why was it problematic?

Shifting the women in folk and the women in comedy

18. How have African-Americans historically dealt with oppression and self-identity in this country? Offer some
reasons why.
By singing and song writing or dancing. Also story-telling and story writing.