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Zora Neale Hrston's Struggles In The Harlem Mentor

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Empowerment Through Hardships In the heart of the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston once said, "I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all. I do not belong to the sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal and whose feelings are all hurt about it. Even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world—I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife"(Hardy 131). As one of the most famous Harlem Renaissance writers, Zora Neale Hurston embraced her race and sought to empower other African Americans. She had a big part in the Harlem Renaissance, creating stories that would later be used to inspire other people. The Harlem Renaissance was originally called the New Negro Movement in the early years. It was considered a literary and intellectual movement that created new black cultural expression in the 1920s and 1930s. Since racism was high and economic opportunities were scarce, creative expression was one of the only ways to pass the time for African Americans ("Great Days"). The timing of this coming-of-age was almost perfect. The years between World War I and the Great Depression was an excellent time for the United States. Jobs were plentiful in cities, especially in the North. Between 1920 and 1930, almost 750,000

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