SOURCE: “Re-evaluating Color Struck: Zora Neale Hurston and the Issue of Colorism,” in Theatre Studies, Vol. 42, 1997, pp. 5-18.

In the following essay, Classon probes Color Struck as a work of social criticism and as the “tragedy of a darkskinned woman.” Additionally, Classon emphasizes the importance of this relatively neglected play to an understanding of Hurston's life and work.

Zora Neale Hurston was born in Eatonville, Florida, an all-Black community, in 1891.¹ While in New York attending Barnard College and studying anthropology under Franz Boas, she made significant contributions to the Harlem Renaissance. “From the 1930s through the 1960s, Hurston was the most prolific and accomplished black woman writer in America.”² In spite of her historic accomplishments, Hurston spent her last years unnoticed and died in obscurity in 1960. It was not until the 1970s, when writers such as Alice Walker made a conscious effort to restore Hurston's status as the...