How It Feels to Be Colored Me - Zora Neale Hurston

Title: How It Feels to Be Colored Me
Author: Zora Neale Hurston


Zora Neale Hurston is an African-American short-story writer, famous throughout the 20th century. Her work typically has to do with her African-American identity, making her a good source for an essay such as How It Feels to Be Colored Me. This piece is about a young girl (Zora) living in a small Florida town in 1903: a very racist time and place. The little girl ignores what people say and interacts with the white people who pass through her neighborhood. She doesn’t care about societal norms; she embraces her race (although she claims she doesn’t feel she even has race).

Zora aims her piece towards anybody that is mistreated or is unsure of their place in the world and in doing so, she tries to explain that people are in control of their own destinies. She believes that her enslaved ancestors were simply there to make way for her successes. She uses an interesting metaphor: “The terrible struggle that made me an American out of a potential slave said ‘On the line!’ The Reconstruction said ‘Get set!’; and the generation before said ‘Go!’ I am off to a flying start” (paragraph 7). She makes the point that God created every single person randomly through the use of another metaphor, this one relating to stuffing bags. Her piece is written in the narrative form and she uses specific personal anecdotes to further her points.

She is successful in teaching this lesson to her reader. Zora was born into a society unaccepting of her skin color. Regardless, she marched on and her lovable personality turned her from an outcast to a hero. She kept a smile on her face the entire time. The essay gives hope to people who don’t know where they belong or are unappreciated. Everybody has the ability to stand up for themselves. With proper courage, determination, and perseverance, anyone can make change.

A spark of light in a sea of darkness