Historical Context

~By Melodie Olson

In the novel written by Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Watching God,emphasized many of the cultural and historical events of African American society. During the early 1900's, these events helped shaped their social movements to fight against racism, segregation and equality. Hurston depicts the social atmosphere, including the complex issues in the characters relationships involving the women and men, and the liaison between the whites and blacks of America. In the early 1920's, Hurston travels to Eatonville, Florida to gather factual evidence for her future novels. Our story begins in Eatonville, located six miles north of Orlando, Florida, in Orange County. It is named in commemoration of the founder Mayor Josiah Eaton, after he sold land to Joseph Clarke in 1882. Following the Civil War, countless blacks strived for freedom and independence from the white communities, they searched for areas to put down their own roots. Having aspirations of developing their own town, Clarke began selling increments of land to black families from Orlando, Maitland and Winter Park. Starting with only three-hundred people and one-hundred and twelve acres, it became home to numerous black families. In August of 1887, twenty -seven black male registered voters, agreed to unify Eatonville as the first African-American municipal in the country. Joe Starks the town mayor in the book says " Us got tuh incorporate, and us got tuh have uh mayor, if things is going to be done and done right"(43). Today, Eatonville is considered the oldest of the dozen black communities that still exist today. It continues to practice long established customs by electing their current African-American Mayor Bruce B. Mount; growing in population it now has 2,362 residents. Because of the author's connection with the town, they maintain celebration every year, during the festival of literature and arts, drawing approximately 160,000 people.

In the beginning of this novel, Janie impressed by her husband's honorable intentions of buying a mule remarks, "Something like George Washington and Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln, he had de whole United States tuh rule so he freed de Negroes. You got uh town so you freed uh mule" (58). Abraham Lincoln spent most of his life trying to abolish slavery; at the age of twenty-eight he made a public speech opposing slave markets. In the late 1840's, after being elected to congress he proposed an anti-slavery law which would put an end to this injustice, it was unsuccessful. Later in 1846, Dred Scott a black man, was prosecuted for being free, following his owner's abandonment; in 1857 the lawsuit went to the Supreme Court. Judge Taney a racist, supervised the trial believed whites should not associate with Negroes. Lincoln appalled at the Judge's statement worked endlessly to pass a law to eliminate slavery. In July of 1862, he authorized a bill that would free all slaves, The Emancipation Proclamation. However, the Thirteenth Amendment, which eliminates slavery entirely was not launched until several months after Lincoln's death in 1865.

Towards the end of Hurston's novel, a massive hurricane is predicted by the Indians, "It woke up old Okeechobee and the monster began to roll in his bed. Began to roll and complain like a peevish world on a grumble" (158). In September of 1928, a category five hurricane hit Florida and surrounding areas such as the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and the Leeward Islands. The storm from Lake Okeechobee, struck south Florida flooding hundreds of miles, and damaging over 1171 homes that were uprooted from their foundation; in addition, numerous phone and power lines were down, costing in the vicinity of $100 million dollars in restoration. The span of the storm's gusts were projected at around 234 miles, and the air stream on U.S. land measured 140 miles per hour. Because of the low ground areas many survivors were cautioned to leave immediately and vacate the premises. In chapter eighteen Teacake comments about the upcoming hurricane " Dey don't always know. Indians don't know much uh nothin', tuh tell de truth. Else dey'd own dis country still. De white folks ain't gone nowhere. Dey oughta know if it's dangerous" (156). As a result, the total of 4,078 people were killed leaving countless numbers of bodies undiscovered and missing. Approximately, 75% of the deaths were black seasonal rural worker, thus leaving others to ascertain the misplaced, and the bodies of the deceased very difficult. The brutal Okeechobee hurricane is rated second on the list of deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States.

References:

Hurston, Zora Neale Their Eyes Were Watching God. First Edition.
New York: HarperPerennial-Modern Classics, 2006