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?
Born on Jan. 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama
http://zoranealehurston.com/about/index.html

2. Given your knowledge of the time and place, what kind of world did Hurston grow up in?
I think she grew up in a very racist America.
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 didnt finish high school
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?

After the civil war. The Town of Eatonville was founded by three Union officers, Captain Josiah Eaton, Captain
Lewis Lawrence and another officer who is unknown.
5. Who was it named after?
Captain Eaton
6. What is significant about Eatonville and African-American history?
It was a race community, where black people set up their own communities
7. What kind of achievements is Hurston noted for?
Hurston is noted as the first Black American to collect and publish African-American and Afro-Caribbean
folklore.

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

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

9. When and where did it occur?

Spanning during the 1920s. Took place in Harlem New York

10. Who were some of the key participants?
Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Countee Cullen, Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. Du Bois

11. Use Google to look up when (and how) Zora Neale Hurston died.
January 28, 1960 and had Hypertensive heart disease
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.
Its like the way people from a certain place talk. The south has a lot of slang and different cultures here
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?
It didnt reflect the growing politicization of African American literature
15. According to Hurston, what role should cultural forms play in the writing of African Americans?

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.

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

18. How have African-Americans historically dealt with oppression and self-identity in this country? Offer some
reasons why.