How it Feels to be Colored Me

by Zora Neale Hurston

'Ik voel me het meest van kleur wanneer ik tegen een schrille witte achtergrond word geworpen.'

In 1928 publiceerde auteur en antropoloog Zora Neale Hurston het essay ‘How It Feels To Be Colored Me’. Met humor en een scherpe pen schreef Hurston over haar identiteit als vrouw van kleur. Bijna honderd jaar later spreken haar woorden nog steeds tot de verbeelding van veel jonge schrijvers van kleur wiens verhalen gelezen worden als reactie op de gevestigde literaire norm.

'Soms voel ik me gediscrimineerd, maar dat maakt mij niet kwaad. Hoe kan iemand zichzelf het plezier van mijn gezelschap ontzeggen?’

In deze eerste Nederlandse vertaling van Hurstons essay worden haar provocatieve ideeën opnieuw belicht vanuit het heden door een briefwisseling tussen Simone Atangana Bekono (Hoe de eerste vonken zichtbaar waren) en de Amerikaanse dichter Kristina Kay Robinson (Mixed Company). Op weergaloze wijze verweven de twee schrijvers hun eigen verhalen. In een ontroerende reactie op Hurstons woorden vloeit er een uitwisseling voort over gemeenschap en over thuishoren, maar vooral over identiteit als een eindeloos, onvoltooid gesprek.

Genres: Nonfiction, Classics, Essays, Short Stories, Memoir, School, Read For School

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1928

About the author

Novels, including Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), and nonfiction writings of American folklorist Zora Neale Hurston give detailed accounts of African American life in the South.

In 1925, Hurston, one of the leaders of the literary renaissance, happening in Harlem, produced the short-lived literary magazine Fire!! alongside Langston Hughes and Wallace Thurman shortly before she entered Barnard College. This literary movement developed into the Harlem renaissance.

Hurston applied her Barnard ethnographic training to document African American folklore in her critically acclaimed book Mules and Men alongside fiction Their Eyes Were Watching God . She also assembled a folk-based performance dance group that recreated her Southern tableau with one performance on Broadway.

People awarded a Guggenheim fellowship to Hurston to travel to Haiti and conduct research on conjure in 1937. Her significant work ably broke into the secret societies and exposed their use of drugs to create the Vodun trance, also a subject of study for fellow dancer-anthropologist Katherine Dunham, then at the University of Chicago.

In 1954, the Pittsburgh Courier assigned Hurston, unable to sell her fiction, to cover the small-town murder trial of Ruby McCollum, the prosperous black wife of the local lottery racketeer, who had killed a racist white doctor. Hurston also contributed to Woman in the Suwanee County Jail , a book by journalist and civil rights advocate William Bradford Huie.

Reviews

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can only feel admiration for Zora Neale Hurston, who experienced discrimination and racism and who lost her mother but still chose to take a positive outlook on life. It couldn't have been easy - in fact fact, it was probably very difficult for her to do - but she did it anyway because she knew that allowing hate and violence to reign inside her would only cause her own destruction in the end.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company?"

[Raquel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3'5⭐️

[Marie Lagast · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aaaah dit was zo'n persoonlijk en goed verwoord beeld van hoe 2 vrouwen discriminatie meemaken in hun eigen land. Het toont mooi hoe ze adhv hun huidskleur steeds gelinkt worden aan hun cultuur door de buitenwereld maar dat dit niet hun volledige identiteit bepaalt.
+ leest super vlot :)

[Jaycee · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me."

That entire piece was great.

[Thom Wijenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deze briefwisseling had van mij wel 300 pagina's morgen voortduren. Heel, héél mooi, alleen een beetje jammer van de redactionele slordigheden.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

dit is zo mooi - een kijkje in de tijd waarin twee schrijvers het gesprek aangaan en ervaringen uitwisselen over de plek en tijd waarin ze zich bevinden, over identiteit, hun schrijverschap en verhouding tot literaire tradities en de uitgeverswereld, en zich verhouden tot het essay van Zora Neale Hurston, in prachtige, scherpe persoonlijke brieven. heel waardevol en inzichtelijk om deze gedachtewisselingen te lezen. (en Zora Neale Hurston kan ook prachtig schrijven.)

ik wil iets citeren maar ik kan niet kiezen want er staan zoveel mooie zinnen in, en je moet het eigenlijk maar gewoon gaan lezen.

hier toch twee (allebei van Simone Atangana Bekono):
'Waar ik optimistisch over ben (...) is precies dat vermogen dat voortkomt uit onze constant veranderende percepties van onszelf en de wereld. Hoe we de mogelijkheid hebben om kennis en ervaringen uit te wisselen. Hoe we kunnen leren over elkaar en onszelf, en daar groter, sterker, met nieuwe energie, creativiteit en inspiratie weer uit kunnen komen.'
'Ik houd ervan hoe het vooral vrouwen zijn die leesgroepen opzetten, teksten bespreken en connecties met die teksten aangaan. Zij die leren door de fictie van anderen bouwen voort op zo'n rijke traditie van actief lezen, luisteren en begrijpen van verhalen. Vrouwen die lezen en vrouwen die schrijven hebben de mogelijkheid om zich met elkaar te verbinden.'

[caleb gao]

see: my simu liu memoir review

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When covered by the waters, I am; and the ebb but reveals me again."

[Susanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

De tekst van Zora Neale Hurston zou absoluut in 2028 opgevoerd moeten worden.

[Anupama Joshy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"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 but about it." - and the text’s all about it

[Gregisdead121 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars ⭐

I decided to read this essay as an introduction to Zora Neal Huston work and I think that was a great decision on my part! It's a smart evocative essay that puts across the controversial Zora's views on her identity as a black American woman. Her take on America's history of slavery were less than savory to me,actually kinda of aggravating (I rolled my eyes) but her thoughts are so well written I can at least respect it. I loved her sense of humor in the text and that conclusive brown paper bag metaphor. Really thought provoking essay .

[Sara Awaleh · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company?”

find myself coming back to this periodically, and this essay never fails to make me feel something indescribable.

[morgyn west]

Seriously beautiful. I loved this. I read it for school but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[alisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

woa

[Carmen Badea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I live for her sense of humor and self-sufficiency

[Bri · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Great Big Stuffer of Bags— gave me full body chills

Absolutely amazing and required reading

[Meagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zora Neale Hurston published this essay in 1928, and it speaks of her experiences in discovering the effects of racial segregation throughout her childhood. Zora grew up in a small town in Florida and discusses how living in Eatonville (an all-black town,) guarded her against the cruelties of racialistic consequence. Zora also discusses her journey in finding her cultural identity and how this can be difficult in situations where your culture may not be encouraged or embraced. This was incredibly difficult for Zora when she went to Barnard College (Columbia Univerity), in New York, where she was the only black student in the college. These experiences opened Zora's eyes to the fact that she was in fact coloured, as seen through her well-known quote "I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background"

This essay looks at Zora's discovery of her identity and self-pride, and how this changes and grows throughout various life stages - "Through it all, I remain myself.".

[vani.cloudy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was amazed by her words and how she portraits her childhood, her spirit, her views and perspectives on the world, on discrimination and racism. Zora Neal Hurston is truly an unique, free and charismatic individual being, who is loved by everyone.

Her essay “How It Feels to be Colored Me” really shows us that we can totally be recognized as different, but not because of and should not because of the skin of our color, or our origin, or the past that our ancestors have been through. No, we are different because we are ourselves, we love and live and feel all unique and differently.

[Jessica Baumgartner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zora is one of my favorite women in history. She didn't let anyone of anything stop her or bring her down. What makes this specific piece stand out is the fact that it connects with people of all races. Anyone who has been the only one of their kind in a room full of another demographic can connect to this, and people who have never had that experience can find a deeper understanding of those who do face it.

[Athena · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn't a huge fan of this short story. Kudos to Hurston for not acknowledging or accepting racism.
While I did like the point she was making, which was that no matter how different we look on the outside, we are made of the same stuff on the inside. Everybody deals with loss and joy, pain and suffering, nostalgia, and regrets. Yes it was very eloquent but it just didn't do anything for me.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasant statement on both being a part of your race/culture and rising above those limiting distinctions in order to be uniquely a person--one whose traits elevate and distinguish beyond history and skin tone.

[Heath · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! The language and metaphors are amazing. I can't believe I have never read anything by Zora before. "It constricts the thorax and splits the heart with its tempo and narcotic harmonies." Love it!

[Amy]

"No, I do not weep at the world--I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife."

[lauren hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly have no notes on this short essay, except that it is a beautiful piece of art. I also carry a deeper appreciation for it as a Barnard student. My favorite excerpts…

“No, I do not weep at the world-I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.”

“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 and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep. Slavery is the price I paid for civilization, and the choice was not with me. It is a bully adventure and worth all that I have paid through my ancestors for it. No one on earth ever had a greater chance for glory. The world to be won and nothing to be lost.”

“For instance at Barnard. "Be-side the waters of the Hudson" I feel my race. Among the thousand white persons, I am a dark rock surged upon, and overswept, but through it all, I remain myself. When covered by the waters, I am; and the ebb but reveals me again.”

“Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me.”

“I feel most colored when I am thrown against a white sharp background.”

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company?It's beyond me.

But in the main, I feel like a brown bag of miscellany propped against a wall. Against a wall in company with other bags, white, red and yellow. Pour out the contents, and there is discovered a jumble of small things priceless and worthless. A first-water diamond, an empty spool, bits of
broken glass, lengths of string, a key to a door long since crumbled away, a rusty knife-blade, old shoes saved for a road that never was and never will be, a nail bent under the weight of things too heavy for any nail, a dried flower or two still a little fragrant. In your hand is the brown bag. On the ground before you is the jumble it held--so much like the jumble in the bags, could they be emptied, that all might be dumped in a single heap and the bags refilled without altering the content of any
greatly. A bit of colored glass more or less would not matter. Perhaps that is how the Great Stuffer of Bags filled them in the first place--who knows?"

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason, this is cataloged under fictional essays at a lot of libraries. It didn't come across that way to me, but I tagged it as both autobiographical and semi-autobiographical for my own sake.

This is a pleasant personal essay by Zora Neale Hurston that examines what she feels it means to be a person of color in America. She of course grew up and lived in the era of Jim Crow, but she also was a vibrant and integral part of the Harlem Renaissance. Because of that latter fact, (I believe) she finds a sense of self-empowerment. Her attitude is that of "haters gonna hate" but in a time when people who looked like her were literally being hung up from trees. She finds the hate of others to be nonsensical because she knows how valuable she is, and this is a message that is still relevant and important.

It's super short and great. Go read it.

[Dina H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short but mighty 💗


« I do not always feel colored. Even now I often achieve the unconscious Zora of
Eatonville before the Hegira. I feel most colored when I am thrown against a
sharp white background. For instance at Barnard. 'Beside the waters of the Hudson' I feel my race. Among this thousand White persons, l am a dark rock searched upon, and overslept, but through it all, remain myself. »



« 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 … even in the helter-skelter skirmish that is my life, I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of the little pigmentation more or less. No, I do not weep at the world — I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife. »

[Des Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me."

Truly the level of umbothered I love to be. I'll always be disturbed seeing others discriminated against because I have such a strong sense of justice and hate seeing others being harmed, but when it comes to me, I can't be bothered to care anymore. I know how great I am, so really, it's their loss. If they want to lose out on all of this over their own bigotry, so be it. I love being me. I love being in my own world. That's why this essay really resonates with me.

[sophitz]

idk how to rate this, I liked her bag analogy but the majority of this is problematic to say the least (considering the time this was written) she was not taken seriously or liked. "someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me. Slavery is sixty years in the past...slavery is the price I paid for civilization, and the choice was not with me" But, thinking about how Hurston truly views herself and seeing her sense of self change throughout was interesting.