WOLM  Tags: wolm hurston their_eyes_were_watching_god  

On November 23rd Michele Elam, Stanford, English Professor & Director of African &  African American Studies discusses “Getting Slapped:  Sexuality in Their Eyes Were Watching God and the Rise of Black Feminism”. Come to Newman Auditorium  or in Room PC 1101 on the Petaluma Campus at Noon to hear Ms. Elam's lecture . Click here for a more thorough description of her lecture.

Here are a few books to get you started as you explore the themes presented in Their Eyes Were Watching God in these books located in both the Doyle & Mahoney libraries.

"One word describes it.  It was Hell!  A raging inferno of rolling, swirling waters, of shrieking, demoniac winds, of lashing rain and of darkness, black and absolute.  There were no atheists that night on the shores of Okeechobee!"  Lawrence E. Will

Compare the Okeechobee and the Katrina disasters, their causes and consequences:

 Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928

 Katrina Hurricane of 2005

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was a Southern novelist, anthropologist, linguist, dancer, playwright, story-teller, singer, librarian and prominent figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Her book Their Eyes Were Watching God was first published in 1937.

To learn more about Hurston consult the Literature Resource Center or Wilson Biographies Plus where you can read more about her life as well as criticism of her work, and discover photographs and timelines for you to read, print, email or save to a flashdrive.

Vegetable workers, migrants, waiting after work to be paid. Near Homestead, Florida. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott

Don't know where to start?  If you're in the library, don't gamble!  Find your way to the Reference Desk (on the second floor of the Doyle Library or the first floor of the Mahoney Library) where a reference librarian can help you navigate the Library's reference collection or use our online reference books.

The sources listed below are online books you can read on the computer but there are many more items in the Library's collection.  In the books listed below you'll find the background information necessary to help develop a better understanding of your topic. If you are reading this from off campus you'll be asked to enter your Student ID number and PIN code, the same ones you use to enter My Cubby.

From the Zora Neale Hurston Archives

Don't forget to check for literary criticism in the Literature Resource Center.

This is a sample of some of the books that contain literary criticism of Hurston's writings.