I feel I must go back and reread and rethink many of the works I used to teach as part of the Renaissance formerly known as “The Harlem Renaissance,” which is now more aptly termed the New Negro Renaissance. As I was completing my annotations, I came across a quote from Their Eyes Were Watching God spoken by Mrs. Turner, a woman Janie meets down on the muck. Mrs. Turner says many things that suggest she is a color-struck black woman with a deep self-loathing. She hates black people, but she does not count herself among them. In class discussions of this character, I always focused on her type in isolation and never saw any larger implication.
After this class, I think Hurston was obviously jabbing at the notion of the Talented Tenth and its problematic stance. Consider this remark: “Ah can’t stand black niggers. Ah don’t blame de white folks from hatin’ em ‘cause Ah can’t stand ‘em mahself. ‘Nother thing, Ah hates tuh see folks lak me and you mixed up wid ‘em. Us oughta class off.” She is clearly suggesting a top tier of the best people, black people who are fair-skinned, and is reviled by the rest of the folk. In the novel, Mrs. Turner is bitter and hateful, and despised by the rest of the community folk. These words in her mouth establish that Hurston did not agree with this prominent Renaissance philosophy. This moment is not a very veiled criticism of DuBois’ notion. Following this experience, I realize how important it is for me to take and apply the knowledge I have gained in this course to rethink everything I thought I knew. I will be a better teacher for it.
-- Vickie Adamson
