Recent attacks on Hilliary Rodham-Clinton have really disgusted me. Although I am a Obama fan, I find myself taking up for her quite often. Women have to stand with each other in order to be taken seriously. Don't judge her, take the time to research and acknowledge the activities and programs she is committed to. At least she has stood up and taken risks that other women have not made recently. In my eyes, she is a spitting image of Shirley Chism, and she has my respect! Bravo, Mrs. Clinton! Here is an article that I found on feminist.com pertaining to some my statements. The url is http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/genwom/marie.html.
It is titled Women of the World by Marie Wilson...Enjoy!!!
I often hear people say that the lack of women in positions of political leadership is an issue that pales next to world crises—global terrorism, fragile economies, inadequate health care, troubled schools, corporate greed. They see no connection between the frightening situations we’re in and the fact that few women sit at the table to determine the solutions.
No wonder we’re where we are today.
This fundamental imbalance, with men running the world and women mostly spectators (or victims), is not a trivial detail. It is the problem. It is also the one solution we have not tried, and the one most likely to work.
It’s not that putting women in power is simply the right thing to do—it’s the only thing to do. The values that women uniquely bring to the table—empathy, relational skills, community focus, inclusion across lines of authority—are vital if we are to solve any of the monumental issues facing our world today.
This is not just me talking. Three decades of research in state legislatures, universities, and international public policy centers have proven beyond doubt that women, children, and men all benefit when women are in leadership. Broader social legislation, benefiting everyone, is more likely to pass if women are in office. We know the power of women as peacemakers in the world from scores of stories about their effectiveness at negotiation, from Ireland to Pakistan to Norway to South Africa to India and beyond.
We can ill afford to use only half our talent, when we know for a fact that today’s complicated challenges demand more than one vision. It’s time for real and permanent power sharing, for real and permanent change—women ruling side by side with men, allowing their voices to rise with different solutions and allowing men to think outside of the masculine box. In this way, we get fresh eyes and fresh solutions from both genders, applied to both old, abiding problems and to new, frightening ones.
This is not a call to pry power from the fingers of men and turn it all over to women. Together we can create a different world, shifting the burden from male shoulders and allowing the diversity of thought and life experience to transform our actions—perhaps bringing a greater peace, perhaps allowing men to be better fathers, perhaps providing a new paradigm for our security.
It’s not easy to get there. Those in power rarely let go without a fight, even if they would benefit by doing so. For women to truly gain the leadership roles, we must be insistent and persistent. We must enlist our many male allies. We must step up to the plate, letting it be known that we are ready to lead, that in fact we demand it as a birthright. If we think creatively, if we use our community resources (a particular strength of women), if we support women who say they want to lead, if we use our voices and our votes to get there, we will achieve the transformation of power. And everyone will be better for it. Our daughters and sons and grandchildren will thank us, because their world will offer more options. We owe it to them. And to ourselves.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
PHENOMENAL WOMAN by Maya Angelou
This is a very powerful poem that has impacted my life, it reading 42 in the book!
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies
I'm not cute or built to suit a model's fashion size
But when I start to tell them
They think I'm telling lies.
I say
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips
The stride of my steps
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please
And to a man
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees
Then they swarm around me
A hive of honey bees.
I say
It's the fire in my eyes
And the flash of my teeth
The swing of my waist
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say
It's in the arch of my back
The sun of my smile
The ride of my breasts
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say
It's in the click of my heels
The bend of my hair
The palm of my hand
The need for my care.
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies
I'm not cute or built to suit a model's fashion size
But when I start to tell them
They think I'm telling lies.
I say
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips
The stride of my steps
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please
And to a man
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees
Then they swarm around me
A hive of honey bees.
I say
It's the fire in my eyes
And the flash of my teeth
The swing of my waist
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say
It's in the arch of my back
The sun of my smile
The ride of my breasts
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say
It's in the click of my heels
The bend of my hair
The palm of my hand
The need for my care.
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally
Phenomenal woman
That's me.
Theme 2007 : Ending Impunity For Violence Against Women
Here is the link to the website that i copied this article from, I thought it had everything to do with what we've been talking about in class.
http://www.123greetings.com/events/womens_day/info/violence_against_women.html
"For years together women have been considered to be the weaker and inferior sex and therefore subjected to all kinds of gender-based inhuman violence. Violence against women is severe and globally pervasive. It is prevalent in every country, cutting across boundaries of culture, class, education, income, ethnicity and age. Violence manifests itself in different monstrous forms of psychological abuse or physical torture. All forms of violence are believed to be representative of unacceptable violation of human rights. Despite the brutality that is met out to women, the vicious people of society who inflict such pain are let free and women denied justice. The plight of these women are often not heeded to, consigned to the back pages of newspaper or relegated to no more than a passing mention in mainstream broadcast media. However, within the UN system, UNFPA has played an active role in addressing this issue. With the aid of governments they have developed strategies as a part of the national plans to protect women from all kinds of violence.
Child marriage, rape, domestic violence, femicide, unhealthy conditions of living and international trafficking are different ruthless ways of proving that women are subjects of subordination. Women are subjected to violence in a wide range of settings including the family, the community, state custody and armed conflict and its aftermath. Interestingly according to history violence against women is said to have germinated from unequal power relation between men and women and pervasive discrimination against women in both public and private spheres. Patriarchal disparities of power, discriminatory cultural norms and economic inequalities serve to deny women’s human rights and support violence. Violence against women is one of the key means through which male control over women’s agency and sexuality and power relation is maintained.
Violence against women has a detrimental affect on the psyche of those affected by it. It is like an epidemic affecting the society, like the disease that eats into the roots of development and leaves it all maimed. This disease though diagnosed often goes uncured leading to further perpetration of this harmful effect. Globally women still continue to be the victims of sexual harassment, violence and murder. In fact the UN report states that although a lot of bold steps have been taken and laws formulated to foster the human rights of women, it is not implemented to its fullest potential. It states that to prevent violence and put an end to impunity, nations need to eliminate the gap that lies between international standards and national laws as well as between policies and practices. Violence against women is perpetrated when legislation, law enforcement and judicial systems condone or when they do not recognize violence against women as a crime at all. The worst scenario for which violence against women still continues to be a social scourge is that most societies despite condemning it they are often sanctioned under the guise of cultural practices and norms or through misinterpretation of religious tenets. Oft late, domestic violence has also been burgeoning. Home which should ideally be the haven of love and harmony turns into nothing short of hell as women are victimized to regime of terror. Certain research studies confirm the prevalence of physical violence in the domestic sphere. It is estimated that 20 to 50 percent of women face domestic violence. According to MSNBC 5 million women are victims of domestic violence every year in the USA. The statistics is therefore quite grim and needs to be given immediate attention to ensure that the problem is dealt with urgency.
Long back a UN resolution had designated November 25th as the ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women’. Women activists have marked November 25th as a day against violence since 1981 as women have every right to lead a life of dignity and equality and enjoy every fundamental right. In fact The United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA had kicked off its annual 16 days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence from November 25th to December 10th by bringing five under-reported stories relating to gender-based violence to limelight. It has laid its focus on different forms of violence such as ‘bride-napping’, which is basically abduction, rape and forced marriage of young woman throughout Central Asia; ‘breast-ironing’, a traditional practice in a number of West African countries whereby the breast of young girls are crushed in order to deter male attention. Femicide or feminicide in Guatemala is another issue which was addressed at this campaign. It refers to the killing of women because of their gender and its function as a form of domination, power and control over woman. It is believed to be a rampant occurrence where State does not guarantee women’s safety or undertake any responsibility to create a conducive environment for ensuring that women’s lives are secure in their communities and at home. According to a special study conducted by the Special Commission on Feminicide, a woman or a young girl is murdered every 6 hours in Mexico. It has been reported that in Latin America and Caribbean the murder of women and young girls has increased in leaps and bounds over the last few years. Besides these three, ‘child marriage’ and ‘traumatic fistula’ were other two critical problems that were given due attention during this 16 day long campaign. In case of child marriage a girl child is coerced to marry an old man against her will. Most often than not this is common in poor nations where girls are considered to be a burden and so needs to be dispatched off like a commodity without providing any education rendering them more susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases and even sometimes leading to their death being unable to withstand the rigors of birth. Of all kinds of violence the ‘traumatic fistula’ seems to be a crime of most serious proportion. This is a common thing in war zones and in post-conflict settings whereby it is considered to be a weapon of terror as well as a form of gender-based torture. Fistula is usually caused by gang rape and often the forced insertion of foreign objects into the rape victim. This has an adverse effect leaving the victim doubly stigmatized both by the rape and then by its consequences. The victim is physically injured tearing delicate tissues of birth canal from bowel and psychologically traumatized as she is shunned from the society as a pariah.
During this campaign conducted by UNFPA certain interesting facts came to the fore front and gained global attention. It created a report that spoke of 130 million women being forced to undergo female genital mutilation with 2 million more at risks every year. Killings in the name of ‘honor’ resulted in the killing of thousands of young women annually in Western Asia, North Africa and parts of South Asia and a whopping 60 million girls who would otherwise be expected to live are ‘missing’ due to sex-selective abortions or sheer neglect.
Currently even Amnesty International launched an international campaign to counter violence against women. This 16 days of global campaign lasted from November 25th International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) to 10th December (International Human Rights Day). As violence in any form is a serious breach of human rights so this campaign emphasized on issues such as ending impunity for those who commit such violence by pressurizing the governments to prosecute individuals and bring about changes in laws to protect women. However, the crux of that campaign was addressing incidence of rape and other violence committed in conflicts such as the Second Congo War and Darfur Conflict. Recently in many countries, even women NGO’s in collaboration with the State have been playing a humble yet a substantial role to curb violence against women.
Now that we have a clear picture of all the inhuman torture with which the fair sex is inflicted, it is the combined duty of the government and we as members of the society to ensure that the perpetrators are prosecuted and punished for the same. Impunity should not be allowed at any cost. All should follow a zero-tolerance policy as far as violence against women is concerned.
The alarming rate at which women are denied justice and perpetrators being let off easily, the theme of Women’s day seems to be aptly chosen. This year’s theme being ‘Ending Impunity for Violence against Women’, concrete steps need to be taken to make sure that the essential purpose of celebrating this year is served. With social stigma preventing the rape victims and others from reporting the crime it is the duty of the government to bring justice to these suffering souls. The tacit acceptance of violence against women and the State’s inability to hold the perpetrators guilty of it is not at all acceptable as it will not only encourage further abuses but also give wrong signal of it being a normal phenomenon. Impunity will not only result in the denial of justice to the sufferer but also reinforce the prevailing inequalities that affect other women and girls as well. If one’s motive is strong and intentions pure, belief can be transformed into actions and policies and laws enforced to ensure that women are once again placed on that divine pedestal of honor and respect."
http://www.123greetings.com/events/womens_day/info/violence_against_women.html
"For years together women have been considered to be the weaker and inferior sex and therefore subjected to all kinds of gender-based inhuman violence. Violence against women is severe and globally pervasive. It is prevalent in every country, cutting across boundaries of culture, class, education, income, ethnicity and age. Violence manifests itself in different monstrous forms of psychological abuse or physical torture. All forms of violence are believed to be representative of unacceptable violation of human rights. Despite the brutality that is met out to women, the vicious people of society who inflict such pain are let free and women denied justice. The plight of these women are often not heeded to, consigned to the back pages of newspaper or relegated to no more than a passing mention in mainstream broadcast media. However, within the UN system, UNFPA has played an active role in addressing this issue. With the aid of governments they have developed strategies as a part of the national plans to protect women from all kinds of violence.
Child marriage, rape, domestic violence, femicide, unhealthy conditions of living and international trafficking are different ruthless ways of proving that women are subjects of subordination. Women are subjected to violence in a wide range of settings including the family, the community, state custody and armed conflict and its aftermath. Interestingly according to history violence against women is said to have germinated from unequal power relation between men and women and pervasive discrimination against women in both public and private spheres. Patriarchal disparities of power, discriminatory cultural norms and economic inequalities serve to deny women’s human rights and support violence. Violence against women is one of the key means through which male control over women’s agency and sexuality and power relation is maintained.
Violence against women has a detrimental affect on the psyche of those affected by it. It is like an epidemic affecting the society, like the disease that eats into the roots of development and leaves it all maimed. This disease though diagnosed often goes uncured leading to further perpetration of this harmful effect. Globally women still continue to be the victims of sexual harassment, violence and murder. In fact the UN report states that although a lot of bold steps have been taken and laws formulated to foster the human rights of women, it is not implemented to its fullest potential. It states that to prevent violence and put an end to impunity, nations need to eliminate the gap that lies between international standards and national laws as well as between policies and practices. Violence against women is perpetrated when legislation, law enforcement and judicial systems condone or when they do not recognize violence against women as a crime at all. The worst scenario for which violence against women still continues to be a social scourge is that most societies despite condemning it they are often sanctioned under the guise of cultural practices and norms or through misinterpretation of religious tenets. Oft late, domestic violence has also been burgeoning. Home which should ideally be the haven of love and harmony turns into nothing short of hell as women are victimized to regime of terror. Certain research studies confirm the prevalence of physical violence in the domestic sphere. It is estimated that 20 to 50 percent of women face domestic violence. According to MSNBC 5 million women are victims of domestic violence every year in the USA. The statistics is therefore quite grim and needs to be given immediate attention to ensure that the problem is dealt with urgency.
Long back a UN resolution had designated November 25th as the ‘International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women’. Women activists have marked November 25th as a day against violence since 1981 as women have every right to lead a life of dignity and equality and enjoy every fundamental right. In fact The United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA had kicked off its annual 16 days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence from November 25th to December 10th by bringing five under-reported stories relating to gender-based violence to limelight. It has laid its focus on different forms of violence such as ‘bride-napping’, which is basically abduction, rape and forced marriage of young woman throughout Central Asia; ‘breast-ironing’, a traditional practice in a number of West African countries whereby the breast of young girls are crushed in order to deter male attention. Femicide or feminicide in Guatemala is another issue which was addressed at this campaign. It refers to the killing of women because of their gender and its function as a form of domination, power and control over woman. It is believed to be a rampant occurrence where State does not guarantee women’s safety or undertake any responsibility to create a conducive environment for ensuring that women’s lives are secure in their communities and at home. According to a special study conducted by the Special Commission on Feminicide, a woman or a young girl is murdered every 6 hours in Mexico. It has been reported that in Latin America and Caribbean the murder of women and young girls has increased in leaps and bounds over the last few years. Besides these three, ‘child marriage’ and ‘traumatic fistula’ were other two critical problems that were given due attention during this 16 day long campaign. In case of child marriage a girl child is coerced to marry an old man against her will. Most often than not this is common in poor nations where girls are considered to be a burden and so needs to be dispatched off like a commodity without providing any education rendering them more susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases and even sometimes leading to their death being unable to withstand the rigors of birth. Of all kinds of violence the ‘traumatic fistula’ seems to be a crime of most serious proportion. This is a common thing in war zones and in post-conflict settings whereby it is considered to be a weapon of terror as well as a form of gender-based torture. Fistula is usually caused by gang rape and often the forced insertion of foreign objects into the rape victim. This has an adverse effect leaving the victim doubly stigmatized both by the rape and then by its consequences. The victim is physically injured tearing delicate tissues of birth canal from bowel and psychologically traumatized as she is shunned from the society as a pariah.
During this campaign conducted by UNFPA certain interesting facts came to the fore front and gained global attention. It created a report that spoke of 130 million women being forced to undergo female genital mutilation with 2 million more at risks every year. Killings in the name of ‘honor’ resulted in the killing of thousands of young women annually in Western Asia, North Africa and parts of South Asia and a whopping 60 million girls who would otherwise be expected to live are ‘missing’ due to sex-selective abortions or sheer neglect.
Currently even Amnesty International launched an international campaign to counter violence against women. This 16 days of global campaign lasted from November 25th International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) to 10th December (International Human Rights Day). As violence in any form is a serious breach of human rights so this campaign emphasized on issues such as ending impunity for those who commit such violence by pressurizing the governments to prosecute individuals and bring about changes in laws to protect women. However, the crux of that campaign was addressing incidence of rape and other violence committed in conflicts such as the Second Congo War and Darfur Conflict. Recently in many countries, even women NGO’s in collaboration with the State have been playing a humble yet a substantial role to curb violence against women.
Now that we have a clear picture of all the inhuman torture with which the fair sex is inflicted, it is the combined duty of the government and we as members of the society to ensure that the perpetrators are prosecuted and punished for the same. Impunity should not be allowed at any cost. All should follow a zero-tolerance policy as far as violence against women is concerned.
The alarming rate at which women are denied justice and perpetrators being let off easily, the theme of Women’s day seems to be aptly chosen. This year’s theme being ‘Ending Impunity for Violence against Women’, concrete steps need to be taken to make sure that the essential purpose of celebrating this year is served. With social stigma preventing the rape victims and others from reporting the crime it is the duty of the government to bring justice to these suffering souls. The tacit acceptance of violence against women and the State’s inability to hold the perpetrators guilty of it is not at all acceptable as it will not only encourage further abuses but also give wrong signal of it being a normal phenomenon. Impunity will not only result in the denial of justice to the sufferer but also reinforce the prevailing inequalities that affect other women and girls as well. If one’s motive is strong and intentions pure, belief can be transformed into actions and policies and laws enforced to ensure that women are once again placed on that divine pedestal of honor and respect."
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Dixie Allen
In my Wmst class, we had a speaker by the name of Dixie Allen. She is representative from Denton co. Friends of the Family. She was awesome. If she is ever speaking and you have a chance to attend, do so, because you will not forget or regret it. She is so passionate about the topics discussed, which are: domestic violence, awareness, rape,etc.... It is important to know about domestic violence shelters and and how to handle domestic violence or any kind of violent situations. You should also know the "signs and symptoms" (courtesy of Dr. Spira) of domestic Violence. Don't think that you have to settle for less... No one deserves abuse and it is not normal! Get help!!!! We need more enthusiastic people like Dixie to help educate women, and further explain the Domestic Violence topic.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Plastic Surgery
Why is plastic surgery so popular now? We all are not perfect, but plastic surgery can't either. "No pain, no gain" is not a great term for anything especially plastic surgery, but that is the phrase people often refer to when seeking plastic surgery. plastic Surgery is not healthy either. There are many ways it may affect your health, causing horror stories or DEATH. A recent event, the passing of Kanye' West's mother, Dr. Donda West, has opened my eyes and showed society's wrath once again. This woman obviously thought that she needed to lose weight, but she did it the "fast" way. The "Fast" way caused her her life. Why can't we be happy with ourselves? Her "TUMMY TUCK" and breast reduction has affected the whole world. Sources report that she she gained alot of pain....that was it! She looked GREAT for a woman her age, why was she brain washed to believe that her imperfections were not beautiful? Is a plus-size woman not as beautiful as a woman wearing a size 3? We have truly lost a highly educated and phenomenal African American woman who has and could have changed many lives for the better! We are suppose to be imperfect, if we all walked around with nose jobs, breast augmentations, face lifts, lipo-suction,etc... we would be fake and animated. I have seen some plastic surgeries gone wrong... We all have watched an episode of Dr. 90210 or have seen Dolly Parton
(no offense), but when is enough enough? Think logically people! Is losing everything a risk you would take for a couple of years of "perfection"?
(no offense), but when is enough enough? Think logically people! Is losing everything a risk you would take for a couple of years of "perfection"?
Monday, November 12, 2007
The Working Woman
I have to give my respect to the modern day woman. We have prospered in many aspects of society. In previous years, we would not have been able to do half of the things that we do today. Regardless to race or ethnicity women are working it! We are all phenomenal women in our own way, Maya Angelou only graced us with her poem. We have opened our eyes and put our feet down. We have taken a stand for justice and the injustice. I am so proud of our gender. We are finally getting the recognition that we deserve, but what about the pay? As many accomplishments that we have achieved, we don't match up to the man's dollar. We could have 50 degrees and still not make the same amount of pay as our counter part peers. After everything that we have been through, we deserve the respect, recognition, and pay. We have so many responsibilities inside and outside the work place, and we SHOULD be compensated like the males. Don't we have children too? Don't we have bills to take care of? We are this nation, we have raised and given birth to its inhabitants. If we have done this and many other things, why can't we live comfortably?
Friday, November 2, 2007
Meet Zora Neale Hurston
Until I reached high school, I really didn't know who Zora Neale Hurston was. We had to read her most famous book, Their Eyes Were Watching God. This book opened my eyes and made me want to leran more about her and many other African-American authors. There are many out there, and I suggest you read their books, because history is present in many of their stories.
"Born on Jan. 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, Hurston moved with her family to Eatonville, Florida, when she was still a toddler. Her writings reveal no recollection of her Alabama beginnings. For Hurston, Eatonville was always home.
Established in 1887, the rural community near Orlando was the nation's first incorporated black township. It was, as Hurston described it, "a city of five lakes, three croquet courts, three hundred brown skins, three hundred good swimmers, plenty guavas, two schools, and no jailhouse."
In Eatonville, Zora was never indoctrinated in inferiority, and she could see the evidence of black achievement all around her. She could look to town hall and see black men, including her father, John Hurston, formulating the laws that governed Eatonville. She could look to the Sunday Schools of the town's two churches and see black women, including her mother, Lucy Potts Hurston, directing the Christian curricula. She could look to the porch of the village store and see black men and women passing worlds through their mouths in the form of colorful, engaging stories.
Growing up in this culturally affirming setting in an eight-room house on five acres of land, Zora had a relatively happy childhood, despite frequent clashes with her preacher-father, who sometimes sought to "squinch" her rambunctious spirit, she recalled. Her mother, on the other hand, urged young Zora and her seven siblings to "jump at de sun." Hurston explained, "We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground."
Hurston's idyllic childhood came to an abrupt end, though, when her mother died in 1904. Zora was only 13 years old. "That hour began my wanderings," she later wrote. "Not so much in geography, but in time. Then not so much in time as in spirit."
After Lucy Hurston's death, Zora's father remarried quickly--to a young woman whom the hotheaded Zora almost killed in a fistfight--and seemed to have little time or money for his children. "Bare and bony of comfort and love," Zora worked a series of menial jobs over the ensuing years, struggled to finish her schooling, and eventually joined a Gilbert & Sullivan traveling troupe as a maid to the lead singer. In 1917, she turned up in Baltimore; by then, she was 26 years old and still hadn't finished high school. Needing to present herself as a teenager to qualify for free public schooling, she lopped 10 years off her life--giving her age as 16 and the year of her birth as 1901. Once gone, those years were never restored: From that moment forward, Hurston would always present herself as at least 10 years younger than she actually was. Apparently, she had the looks to pull it off. Photographs reveal that she was a handsome, big-boned woman with playful yet penetrating eyes, high cheekbones, and a full, graceful mouth that was never without expression.
Zora also had a fiery intellect, an infectious sense of humor, and "the gift," as one friend put it, "of walking into hearts." Zora used these talents--and dozens more--to elbow her way into the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, befriending such luminaries as poet Langston Hughes and popular singer/actress Ethel Waters. Though Hurston rarely drank, fellow writer Sterling Brown recalled, "When Zora was there, she was the party." Another friend remembered Hurston's apartment--furnished by donations she solicited from friends--as a spirited "open house" for artists. All this socializing didn't keep Hurston from her work, though. She would sometimes write in her bedroom while the party went on in the living room.
By 1935, Hurston--who'd graduated from Barnard College in 1928--had published several short stories and articles, as well as a novel (Jonah's Gourd Vine) and a well-received collection of black Southern folklore (Mules and Men). But the late 1930s and early '40s marked the real zenith of her career. She published her masterwork, Their Eyes Were Watching God, in 1937; Tell My Horse, her study of Caribbean Voodoo practices, in 1938; and another masterful novel, Moses, Man of the Mountain, in 1939. When her autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road, was published in 1942, Hurston finally received the well-earned acclaim that had long eluded her. That year, she was profiled in Who's Who in America, Current Biography and Twentieth Century Authors. She went on to publish another novel, Seraph on the Suwanee, in 1948.
Still, Hurston never received the financial rewards she deserved. (The largest royalty she ever earned from any of her books was $943.75.) So when she died on Jan. 28, 1960--at age 69, after suffering a stroke--her neighbors in Fort Pierce, Florida, had to take up a collection for her February 7 funeral. The collection didn't yield enough to pay for a headstone, however, so Hurston was buried in a grave that remained unmarked until 1973.
That summer, a young writer named Alice Walker traveled to Fort Pierce to place a marker on the grave of the author who had so inspired her own work. Walker found the Garden of Heavenly Rest, a segregated cemetery at the dead end of North 17th Street, abandoned and overgrown with yellow-flowered weeds.
Back in 1945, Hurston had foreseen the possibility of dying without money--and she'd proposed a solution that would have benefited her and countless others. Writing to W.E.B. Du Bois, whom she called the "Dean of American Negro Artists," Hurston suggested "a cemetery for the illustrious Negro dead" on 100 acres of land in Florida. Citing practical complications, Du Bois wrote a curt reply discounting Hurston's persuasive argument. "Let no Negro celebrity, no matter what financial condition they might be in at death, lie in inconspicuous forgetfulness," she'd urged. "We must assume the responsibility of their graves being known and honored."
As if impelled by those words, Walker bravely entered the snake-infested cemetery where Hurston's remains had been laid to rest. Wading through waist-high weeds, she soon stumbled upon a sunken rectangular patch of ground that she determined to be Hurston's grave. Unable to afford the marker she wanted--a tall, majestic black stone called "Ebony Mist"--Walker chose a plain gray headstone instead. Borrowing from a Jean Toomer poem, she dressed the marker up with a fitting epitaph: "Zora Neale Hurston: A Genius of the South." "
-- By Valerie Boyd
"Born on Jan. 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, Hurston moved with her family to Eatonville, Florida, when she was still a toddler. Her writings reveal no recollection of her Alabama beginnings. For Hurston, Eatonville was always home.
Established in 1887, the rural community near Orlando was the nation's first incorporated black township. It was, as Hurston described it, "a city of five lakes, three croquet courts, three hundred brown skins, three hundred good swimmers, plenty guavas, two schools, and no jailhouse."
In Eatonville, Zora was never indoctrinated in inferiority, and she could see the evidence of black achievement all around her. She could look to town hall and see black men, including her father, John Hurston, formulating the laws that governed Eatonville. She could look to the Sunday Schools of the town's two churches and see black women, including her mother, Lucy Potts Hurston, directing the Christian curricula. She could look to the porch of the village store and see black men and women passing worlds through their mouths in the form of colorful, engaging stories.
Growing up in this culturally affirming setting in an eight-room house on five acres of land, Zora had a relatively happy childhood, despite frequent clashes with her preacher-father, who sometimes sought to "squinch" her rambunctious spirit, she recalled. Her mother, on the other hand, urged young Zora and her seven siblings to "jump at de sun." Hurston explained, "We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground."
Hurston's idyllic childhood came to an abrupt end, though, when her mother died in 1904. Zora was only 13 years old. "That hour began my wanderings," she later wrote. "Not so much in geography, but in time. Then not so much in time as in spirit."
After Lucy Hurston's death, Zora's father remarried quickly--to a young woman whom the hotheaded Zora almost killed in a fistfight--and seemed to have little time or money for his children. "Bare and bony of comfort and love," Zora worked a series of menial jobs over the ensuing years, struggled to finish her schooling, and eventually joined a Gilbert & Sullivan traveling troupe as a maid to the lead singer. In 1917, she turned up in Baltimore; by then, she was 26 years old and still hadn't finished high school. Needing to present herself as a teenager to qualify for free public schooling, she lopped 10 years off her life--giving her age as 16 and the year of her birth as 1901. Once gone, those years were never restored: From that moment forward, Hurston would always present herself as at least 10 years younger than she actually was. Apparently, she had the looks to pull it off. Photographs reveal that she was a handsome, big-boned woman with playful yet penetrating eyes, high cheekbones, and a full, graceful mouth that was never without expression.
Zora also had a fiery intellect, an infectious sense of humor, and "the gift," as one friend put it, "of walking into hearts." Zora used these talents--and dozens more--to elbow her way into the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, befriending such luminaries as poet Langston Hughes and popular singer/actress Ethel Waters. Though Hurston rarely drank, fellow writer Sterling Brown recalled, "When Zora was there, she was the party." Another friend remembered Hurston's apartment--furnished by donations she solicited from friends--as a spirited "open house" for artists. All this socializing didn't keep Hurston from her work, though. She would sometimes write in her bedroom while the party went on in the living room.
By 1935, Hurston--who'd graduated from Barnard College in 1928--had published several short stories and articles, as well as a novel (Jonah's Gourd Vine) and a well-received collection of black Southern folklore (Mules and Men). But the late 1930s and early '40s marked the real zenith of her career. She published her masterwork, Their Eyes Were Watching God, in 1937; Tell My Horse, her study of Caribbean Voodoo practices, in 1938; and another masterful novel, Moses, Man of the Mountain, in 1939. When her autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road, was published in 1942, Hurston finally received the well-earned acclaim that had long eluded her. That year, she was profiled in Who's Who in America, Current Biography and Twentieth Century Authors. She went on to publish another novel, Seraph on the Suwanee, in 1948.
Still, Hurston never received the financial rewards she deserved. (The largest royalty she ever earned from any of her books was $943.75.) So when she died on Jan. 28, 1960--at age 69, after suffering a stroke--her neighbors in Fort Pierce, Florida, had to take up a collection for her February 7 funeral. The collection didn't yield enough to pay for a headstone, however, so Hurston was buried in a grave that remained unmarked until 1973.
That summer, a young writer named Alice Walker traveled to Fort Pierce to place a marker on the grave of the author who had so inspired her own work. Walker found the Garden of Heavenly Rest, a segregated cemetery at the dead end of North 17th Street, abandoned and overgrown with yellow-flowered weeds.
Back in 1945, Hurston had foreseen the possibility of dying without money--and she'd proposed a solution that would have benefited her and countless others. Writing to W.E.B. Du Bois, whom she called the "Dean of American Negro Artists," Hurston suggested "a cemetery for the illustrious Negro dead" on 100 acres of land in Florida. Citing practical complications, Du Bois wrote a curt reply discounting Hurston's persuasive argument. "Let no Negro celebrity, no matter what financial condition they might be in at death, lie in inconspicuous forgetfulness," she'd urged. "We must assume the responsibility of their graves being known and honored."
As if impelled by those words, Walker bravely entered the snake-infested cemetery where Hurston's remains had been laid to rest. Wading through waist-high weeds, she soon stumbled upon a sunken rectangular patch of ground that she determined to be Hurston's grave. Unable to afford the marker she wanted--a tall, majestic black stone called "Ebony Mist"--Walker chose a plain gray headstone instead. Borrowing from a Jean Toomer poem, she dressed the marker up with a fitting epitaph: "Zora Neale Hurston: A Genius of the South." "
-- By Valerie Boyd
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