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?
January 7, 1891 Born in Notasulga, Alabama. Moved with her family to Eatonville, Florida

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

2. Given your knowledge of the time and place, what kind of world did Hurston grow up in?
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."

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

3. What was the extent of Hurstons education? Considering her gender and color, does this surprise you?
Explain.
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

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?

Founded by three Union officers, Captain Josiah Eaton, Captain Lewis Lawrence and another officer who is
unknown. Following the Civil War, these men left America to settle in South America but during their voyage
they turned back and settled in Florida.
5. Who was it named after? Capton Eaton

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

They developed the run around Lake Maitland, thus giving us the City of Maitland we know today. The former
slaves who stayed in Central Florida were used to help clear the lands, and a black community popped up
beside Maitland where the workers lived.

7. What kind of achievements is Hurston noted for? The first Black American to collect and publish African-
American and Afro-Caribbean folklore. She wrote stories, novels, anthropological folklore, and an
autobiography. She could write about the most ordinary things and make them infinitely gorgeous.

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 cultural,
social, and artistic explosion that took place in Harlem, New York, spanning the 1920s. During the time, it was
known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke.

9. When and where did it occur? Spanning the 1920s to the mid-1930s. That took place in Harlem, New York,

10. Who were some of the key participants?

Among authors who became nationally known were Jean Toomer, Jessie Fauset, Claude McKay, Zora Neale
Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, Alain Locke, Omar Al Amiri, Eric D. Walrond and Langston Hughes. The
Harlem Renaissance helped lay the foundation for the post-World War II protest movement of the Civil Rights
Movement.

11. Use Google to look up when (and how) Zora Neale Hurston died. suffered several strokes

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 a native language
or dialect. People in the Deep South will have a country sounding accent

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?
Cause she didnt have same opinion as them

15. According to Hurston, what role should cultural forms play in the writing of African Americans? The role it
is played in an influence in its genres

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? audience was considered the problem of image.

18. How have African-Americans historically dealt with oppression and self-identity in this country? Offer some
reasons why. They dealt with racism in their communities, they tried to protest, and use folk traditiions to make
community stronger.