how it feels to be colored me

Hurston refuses to let her color control who she is. For most of her life she has been true to her own thoughts and beliefs, not letting race control how she should act or what to think of others. For example, back when she was living in Eatonville, Florida, an entirely Negro town, she was not like the other people living there, getting no closer to the white northern tourists then their own porches. Rather, she would be out in the front of town, welcoming the visiting folk with the great energy of a child. She would gladly do a little jig or sing a song for them, something the local colored people were not fond of. She hadn't even considered herself to be "colored" until she was sent to school in Jacksonville at age 13. Even in her later days, she considers her individuality more important than race. Rather than harboring hatred toward white people for the enslaving of her ancestors, as others do and even urge her to, she considers that to be a thing of the past, and refuses to let it...