Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
[2007]
Read-Alikes
Discussion Questions
Related Resources
Read-Alikes & Movies
Place Connections
 Florida
 Race Colonies
 West Indies
Historical Connections
 Jim Crow Laws
 Harlem Renaissance
 Authors & Artists
 Music and Musicians
 Blues
 Jazz
 Theatre
 Nightclubs
 Great Depression
 World War I
 African American's fighting in this war
 Great Migration
People Connections
Anthropology Connections
Folklore Connections
 Folklore Traditions
 Haiti Folktales
Foods in the Novel
Media Adaptations of the Novel
What Do I Read Next?
PLACE CONNECTIONS
FLORIDA
Books
Carlson, Charlie. Weird Florida: Your Travel Guide to Florida's Local Legends and Best
Kept Secrets. NY: Sterling Publishing, 2005.
RACE COLONIES
Books
D'Orso, Michael. Like Judgment Day: The Ruin and Redemption of a Town Called
Rosewood. NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1996
Ortiz, Paul. Emancipation Betrayed: The Hidden Black Organizing and White Violence
of Florida from Reconstruction to the Bloody Election. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2005.
Phelts, Marsha Dean. An American Beach for African Americans. Gainsville: University
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
[2007]
Press of Florida, 1997.
WEST INDIES
Books
The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories. Edited by Stewart Brown and John
Wickham. Oxford; NY: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Rogozinsky, Jan. A Brief History of the West Indies. NY: Facts on File, 1999.
HISTORICAL CONNECTIONS
JIM CROW LAWS
Books
Fremon, David K. The Jim Crow Laws and Racism in American History. Berkeley
Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2000.
George, Charles. Life Under the Jim Crow Laws. San Diego, Lucent Books, 2000.
Sharp, Anne Wallace. A Dream Deferred: The Jim Crow Era. Detroit: Lucent Books,
2000.
Wormser, Richard. The Rise and Fall of Jim crow: The African American Struggle
Against Discrimination, 1885-1954. NY: Franklin Watts, 1999.
HARLEM RENAISSANCE
Bibliography
An extensive bibliography about this time period appears in Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural
History of the Harlem Renaissance. Hill, Laban Carrick. NY: Little Brown & Co., 2003.
pp. 137-142.
Books
Brown, Lois. Encyclopedia of the Harlem Literary Renaissance. NY: Facts on File, 2006.
Post-bellum, Pre-Harlem: African American Literature and Culture. Edited by Barbara
McCaskill and Caroline Gebhard. NY: New York University Press, 2006.
Wall, Cheryl A. Women of the Harlem Renaissance. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1995.
Ed. Knopf, Marcy. The Sleeper Wakes: Harlem Renaissance Stories by Women. New
Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1993.
Roses, Lorraine Elena. Harlem Renaissance and Beyond: Literary Biographies of 100
Black Women Writers, 1900-1945. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1990.
Ed. Honey, Maureen. Shadowed Dreams: Women's Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance.
New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1989.
AUTHORS & ARTISTS
Books
Banks, William, editor. Beloved Harlem: A Literary Tribute to Black America's Most
Famous Neighborhood. NY: Harlem Moon, 2004.
Beckman, Wendy Hart. Artists and Writers of the Harlem Renaissance. Berkeley
Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2002.
Harlem Renaissance: Art of Black America: Essays. NY: Studio Museum of Harlem,
Abradale Press, 1994.
Marks, Carole. Power of Pride: Stylemakers & Rulebreakers of the Harlem
Renaissance. NY: Crown, 1999.
Shimmy Shimmy Shimmy Like My Sister Kate: Looking at the Harlem Renaissance
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
[2007]
through Poems. Edited by Nikki Giovanni. NY: H. Holt, 1996.
Audio-Visual
Against the Odds: The Artists of the Harlem Renaissance. Video. Produced by the NJ
Channel. PBS Home Video. Distributed by Warner Home Video, 1998.
MUSIC AND MUSICIANS
Audio-Visual
Harlem Renaissance. Benny Carter. 2 CDs. Musicmasters Jazz, 1992.
The Harlem Renaissance: The Music and Rhythms That Started a Cultural
Revolution. DVD. Kultur, 2004.
Rhapsodies in Black: Music and Words from the Harlem Renaissance. CD. Rhino,
2000.
JAZZ
Books
The Billboard Illustrated Book if Jazz and Blues. Edited by Howard Mandel. NY:
Billboard Books, 2005.
Kallen, Stewart A. The History of Jazz. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2003.
Wondrich, David. Stomp and Swerve: American Music Gets Hot, 1843-1924.
Chicago: A Cappella Books, 2003.
Articles
Stewart, Zan. "They Gave Voice to an American Art: Want to build a jazz CD library
but don't know where to start? We'll show you how-10 CDs at a time". Series
appearing in the Newark Star Ledger. November -December 2006.
Audio-Visual
Ken Burns Jazz: The Story of American Music. CD. NY: Columbia, 2000.
Stormy Weather. Produced by William LeBaron. Video. Beverly Hills, CA: 20th
Century Fox, 2006.
BLUES
Books
Evans, David. The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to the Blues. NY: Pedigree Books,
2005.
Koopmans, Andy. The History of the Blues. Detroit: Lucent Books, 2006.
Jackson, Buzzy. A Bad Woman Feeling Good: Blues and the Women who Sing
Them. NY; London: W.W. Norton, 2005.
THEATER
Books
Hatch, James V. and Leo Hamalian, editors. The Last Plays of the Harlem
Renaissance, 1920-1940. Detroit: Wayne State university Press, 1996.
Krasner, David. A Beautiful Pageant: African American Theater, Drama and
Performance in the Harlem Renaissance, 1910-1927. Palgrave Macmillan, 2000.
Audio Visual
Ain't Misbehavin': The New Fats Waller Musical. CD. NY: RCA Red Seal, 1978.
NIGHTCLUBS
Audio Visual
The Cotton Club. DVD. Santa Monica: MGM Home Entertainment, 2001.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
[2007]
SEMINOLE INDIANS
Books
Porter, Kenneth Wiggins. The Black Seminoles: A History of Freedom-Seeking
People. Ganiesville, Florida: University Press of Florida, 1996.
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
Books
Burg, David. F. The Great Depression. NY: Facts on File, 2005.
Egan, Timothy. The Worst Hard Time. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Schultz, Stanley. The Great Depression: A Primary Source History. Milwaukee:
Gareth Stevens, 2006.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath.
THE GREAT MIGRATION
Books
Candaele, Kerry. Bound for Glory: From the Great Migration to the Harlem
Renaissance, 1910-1930. NY: Chelsea House, 1996.
Halpern, Monica. The Great Migration: African American and the Great Migration,
1915-1930. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2006.
Haskins, James. Out of the Dark: The Story of Blacks Moving North, 1890-1940.
NY: Benchmark Books, 2000.
WORLD WAR I
AFRICAN AMERICANS FIGHTING IN THE WAR
Books
Cooper, Michael. Hell Fighters: African American Soldiers in World War I. NY:
Lodestar Books, 1997.
Harris, Stephen. Harlem's Hell Fighters: The African-American 369th Infantry in
World War I. Washington DC: Brassey's Inc., 2003.
Thomas, Velma Maia. We Shall Not Be Moved: The Passage from the Great
Migration to the Million Man March. NY: Crown, 2002.
PEOPLE CONNECTIONS
REAL PEOPLE
Franz Boas
Books
Boas, Franz. A Franz Boas Reader: The Shaping of American Anthropology, 1883-1910.
Midway Imprint, 1989.
Boas, Franz. A Wealth of Thought: Franz Boas on Native American Art. Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 1995.
"Franz Boas." Biographical article in Contemporary Authors. Gale Research, 2004.
Boas, Norman F. Franz Boas: 1858-1942: An Illustrated Biography. 2004 (no publisher
given)
Cab Calloway
Audio Visual
Cab Calloway & Co. 2 CDs. The Complete Cotton Club Orchestra sessions. NY: RCA,
1992.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
[2007]
Louis Armstrong
Audio Visual
The Essential Louis Armstrong. CD. NY: Columbia/Legacy, p2004.
Fats Waller
Books
Ain't Misbehavin': The Story of Fats Waller. NY: Da Capo Press, 1975.
Audio Visual
Fats Waller, 1927-1929. CD. Classics, p1993.
Duke Ellington
Audio-Visual
The Duke: The Essential Collection, 1927-1962. CD. NY: Columbia Legacy, 1999.
Paul Robeson
Books
Boyle, Shelia Tully. Paul Robeson: The Years of Promise and Achievement. Amherst:
University of Mass., 2001
Robeson, Paul. The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist's Journey, 1898-1939. NY:
Wiley, 2001.
Audio-Visual
Show Boat. Video. Culver City, CA: MGM/UA Video, 1990, c1930.
Langston Hughes
Books
A Historical Guide to Langston Hughes. Edited by Steven C. Tracy. NY: Oxford
University Press, 2004.
Hughes, Langston. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. Edited by Arnold
Rampersad. NY: Vintage Books, 1995.
Hughes, Langston. Vintage Hughes. NY: Vintage Books, 2004.
Nella Larsen
Books
Davis, Thadious M. Nella Larsen, Novelist of the Harlem Renaissance: A Woman's Life
Unveiled. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994.
WORKS ON AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS:
 Moses, Sibyl E. African American Women Writers in New Jersey, 1836-2000: A
Biographical Dictionary and Bibliographic Guide. New Brunswick: Rutgers University
Press, 2003.
 Ed. Roses, Lorraine Elena. Harlem's Glory: Black Women Writing, 1900-1950.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996.
 McDowell, Deborah E. "The Changing Same": Black Women's Literature, Criticism and
Theory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.
 Ed. Shockley, Ann Allen. Afro-American Women Writers, 1746-1933: An Anthology
and Critical Guide. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1988.
 Kubitschek, Missy Dehn. Claiming the Heritage: African-American Women Novelists
and History. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991.
ANTHOLOGIES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS:
 Ed. Givens, Archie. Strong Souls Singing: African American Books for Our Daughters
and Our Sisters. New York: W.W. Norton, 1998.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
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[2007]
Ed. Kanwar, Asha. The Unforgetting Heart: An Anthology of Short Stories by African
American Women, 1859-1993. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 1993.
Ed. Washington, Mary Helen. Black Eyed Susans: Classic Stories by and about Black
Women. Garden City: Anchor Books, 1975.
Ed. Busby, Margaret. Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and
Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present. New
York: Pantheon Books, 1992.
Ed. Hamer, Judith A. Centers of the Self: Stories by Black American Women from the
Nineteenth Century to the Present. New York: Hill and Wang, 1994.
Ed. Stetson, Erlene. Black Sister: Poetry by Black American Women, 1746-1980.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981.
ANTHROPOLOGY CONNECTIONS
Books
Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Edited by H. James Birx. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005.
Metcalf, Peter. Anthropology: The Basics. NY: Routledge, 2005.
FOLKLORE CONNECTIONS
FOLKLORE TRADITIONS
Books
Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music and Art. Edited by Thomas
A. Green. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 1997.
A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore. Compiled by Harold Courlander. NY: Marlowe
& Company, 1996
HAITIAN FOLKTALES
Books
Des Pres, Francois. Children of Yayoute: Folktales of Haiti. NY: Universe Books, 1994.
Wolkstein, Diane. The Magic Orange Tree and Other Haitain Folktales. NY: Schocken
Books, 1980.
FOODS METIONED IN THE NOVEL
Check your cookbook section to locate recipes like the food mentioned throughout the novel.
Pork Barbaque
Blackeyed peas and rice
Baked navy beans with sugar and bacon on top
Fried rabbit
Sweet biscuits
Molasses
MEDIA ADAPTATIONS OF THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD
Book on Cassette. Abridged. Narrated by Ruby Dee. Caedmon, 1991. Book on CD released in
2000.
Book on Cassette. Unabridged. Narrated by Michele-Denise Woods, Recorded Books, 1994.
Book on Cassette. Abridged. Narrated by Ruby Dee. HarperCollins, 1991.
DVD. Oprah Winfrey Presents; A Harpo Films Production for TV. Starring Halle Barry, Ruben
Santiago-Hudson and Ruby Dee. Burbank, CA: Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 2005.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
[2007]
WHAT DO I READ NEXT?
Andrews, William L. Classic Fiction of the Harlem Renaissance. NY: Oxford University Press,
1994.
DuBois, W.E.B. Souls of Black Folk.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man.
Ferber, Edna. Five Complete Novels. (Includes Show Boat). NY: Avenel, 1981.
Honey, Maureen, editor. Shadowed Dreams: Women's Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance. New
Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1984.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Mules and Men.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Novels & Stories. Library of America. Distributed by Penguin Books,
1995.
Knopf, Marcy, editor. The Sleeper Wakes: Harlem Renaissance Stories by Women. New
Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1993.
Lewis, David Levering. The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader. NY: Viking, 1994.
Lewis, David Levering. When Harlem Was in Vogue.
Morrison, Toni. Beloved.
____________. Bluest Eye.
____________. Song of Solomon.
Rawlings, Marjorie. The Yearling. NY: Scribner Paperback Fiction/Simon & Schuster, 2002,
c1936.
Thurman, Wallace. Infants of the Spring. NY: Modern Library, 1991.
Wright, Richard. Invisible Man.
Discussion Questions
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A reading group guide
www.readinggroupguides.com/guides/their_eyes_were_watching_god.asp
A comprehensive book analysis of the novel
www.novelguide.com/theireyeswerewatchinggod/index.html
A compendium of research on the title jupiter.phy.ohiou.edu/~rouzie/307/hurston.html
"SparkNotes" on the title www.sparknotes.com/lit/eyes/
HarperAcademic.com has an "instructor's guide" to the title
www.harperacademic.com/catalog/instructors_guide_xml.asp?isbn=0060838671
Powells.com's list of discussion questions www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=620060199490-0
Their Eyes Were Watching God has been covered in many high school English classes. For this
reason a mother/daughter book discussion about this work might be something interesting to
plan.
A women's reading group might do well with focusing a discussion on the title and comparing it
with other contemporary African American Women's titles.
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
[2007]
The television movie starring Halle Berry and produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films is
available on DVD through Buena Vista Home Video. A showing of the film and comparison
with the novel would make for interesting discussion. Please check on public performance rights.
Related Resources
Perspective in American Literature
This educational site provides some study questions related to Hurston's writings.
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/hurston.html
Edsitement
While aimed at teachers, many of the activities on this site could be adapted to a book discussion
program.
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=407
Web English Teacher
A list of web links are given on this site, including one that offers discussion questions, a chapter
by chapter study guide, and biographical information on the author.
http://www.webenglishteacher.com/hurston.html
Biographical Information on the Author
Walker, Alice. "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston." MS Magazine. March 1975, pp.74-79, 85-89.
Novels for Students: Volume 3, pp.300-320. Gale Research, 1998.