"How It Feels to Be Colored Me"

“How It Feels to Be Colored Me” Zora Neale Hurston, 1928

 
Growing up in the early twentieth century as a ‘colored’ girl, Zora Neale Hurston describes in her essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” how her race has affected her life. Hurston grew up in the notoriously racist south, but at first had no exposure to any discrimination due to living in an all black area. After moving to a much larger, more mixed community in Jacksonville Florida, Hurston truly feels ‘colored’ for the first time. She remembers,“ It seemed that I had suffered a sea of change. I was not Zora of Orange County anymore, I was now a little colored girl” (Hurston 115). This awakening, however, did not discourage Hurston from being any less than she knew she could be. She clearly proclaims, “I am not tragically colored... I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature has somehow given them a low-down dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it” (Hurston 115). The strong language she employs and straight to the point punctuation style she uses emphasises the power of her statement: she is not ashamed of her color and will not let it, or the way others feel about it, change the way she lives her life. Hurston’s strong convictions speak to anyone who feels society judges them, either by their appearance or their beliefs. To those who still dwell on slavery and refuse to look beyond the struggles of their ancestors Hurston says, “Slavery is sixty years in the past. The operation was successful and the patient is doing well, thank you” (Hurston 115). She uses curt sentences and vivid metaphors to urge the reader to move on, as she has, and look at what life has given you rather than what it has not. Through the use of strong wording, deliberate syntax, and stirring metaphors, Hurston’s passionate essay effortlessly communicates her message to not let anything define who you are.

"Zora Neale Hurston" by Leed's Post Cards