On January 7th, 1891 a magician was born. Zora Neale Hurston is one of the boldest human beings to walk the earth. As Mental Health post-Covid had soared, hushed mouths don’t,won’t, and haven’t been fed.

Inbox Sundays, we salute “The Great Salt” wound healer, SDMNEWS editorial team has selected these quotes, as we celebrate her Bearth Day!

Enjoy! Staff

Zora Neale Hurston was a folklorist and writer. She was part of the Harlem Renaissance, but she never quite fit into the “Black writer” stereotype and was “too Black” for white audiences, so her work fell into obscurity. She wrote such classics as “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” and “How it Feels to Be Colored Me.”

Alice Walker led a revival of Zora Neale Hurston’s popularity beginning in the 1970s, and Zora Neale Hurston is now considered among the classic American writers of the 20th century.

Quote of the Month

On Race

“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.”

“I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother’s side was not an Indian chief.”

“Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It fails to register depression with me.”

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

“If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.” “Bitterness is the coward’s revenge on the world for having been hurt.” “I love myself when I am laughing. . . and then again when I am looking mean and impressive.” “Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear.”

“If you haven’t got it, you can’t show it. If you have got it, you can’t hide it. Such as I am, I am a precious gift.”

“Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.”

Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.”

“I have known the joy and pain of friendship. I have served and been served. I have made some good enemies for which I am not a bit sorry. I have loved unselfishly, and I have fondled hatred with the red-hot tongs of Hell. That’s living.”

“She had waited all her life for something, and it had killed her when it found her.”

“Those that don’t got it, can’t show it. Those that got it, can’t hide it.”

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