IV

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. RES. 60

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that a postage stamp

should be issued in honor of Zora Neale Hurston.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 11, 1999

Ms. BROWN of Florida (for herself, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. FORD, Ms.

KILPATRICK, Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. JEFFERSON, Ms.

STABENOW, Mr. WATT of North Carolina, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mrs. MORELLA, Ms. LEE, Ms. CARSON, Mrs. CHRISTIAN-CHRISTENSEN, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr.

LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. CLAY, Mr. SCOTT, Mr.

KUCINICH, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. THOMPSON of

Mississippi, Mr. WYNN, and Mr. CONYERS) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that

a postage stamp should be issued in honor of Zora Neale

Hurston.

Whereas Zora Neale Hurston is one of the most famous

American writers, folklorists, and interpreters of Southern rural African-American culture;

Whereas Zora Neale Hurston made significant contributions

to the study and understanding of the American South’s

folkways and has enriched the American literary landscape;
2

HRES 60 IH

Whereas some of Zora Neale Hurston’s literary accomplishments include her autobiography, ‘‘Dust Tracks On A

Road’’; four novels, ‘‘Jonah’s Gourd Vine’’, ‘‘Their Eyes

Were Watching God’’, ‘‘Moses, Man of the Mountain’’,

and ‘‘Seraph on the Sewanee’’; two collections of folklore,

‘‘Of Men and Mules’’ and ‘‘Tell My Horse’’; and numerous short stories, articles, and plays;

Whereas Zora Neale Hurston was active in the historic Harlem Renaissance and collaborated on works with other

notable figures of the Harlem Renaissance including

Langston Hughes;

Whereas Zora Neale Hurston was also influential beyond the

literary field as an anthropologist in the American South,

the West Indies, and Haiti;

Whereas Zora Neale Hurston also worked as a journalist,

teacher, and librarian;

Whereas recent Library of Congress discoveries of play

manuscripts have furthered the revival of interest in Zora

Neale Hurston;

Whereas Zora Neale Hurston has been listed in the book,

‘‘Black Female Playwrights’’, as ‘‘the most prolific and

widely published female black writer of her era’’, and is

seen as a major literary African-American female voice of

the first half of the twentieth century;

Whereas Zora Neale Hurston was inducted into the Women’s

Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1994, and

the State of Florida’s Writer’s Hall of Fame in 1990;

Whereas Zora Neale Hurston has influenced famous authors

and poets such as Maya Angelou, Toni Kay Bombara,

and Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison;
3

HRES 60 IH

Whereas Zora Neale Hurston has been recognized for her literary genius by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice

Walker and literary scholar Robert Hemenway; and

Whereas the legacy of Zora Neale Hurston has inspired the

establishment of the Zora Neale Hurston Society at Morgan State University and the annual Zora Neale Hurston

Festival of Arts and Humanities in America’s first African-American incorporated town of Eatonville, Florida:

Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that—

3 (1) the United States Postal Service should

4 issue a postage stamp in honor of Zora Neale

5 Hurston;

6 (2) the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee

7 should recommend to the Postmaster General that

8 such a postage stamp be issued.

Æ