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 Is-
land, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mrs. MORELLA, Ms. LEE, Ms. CAR-
SON, 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 reso-
lution; 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 South-
ern 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 land-
scape;
HRES 60 IH
Whereas some of Zora Neale Hurston’s literary accomplish-
ments 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 numer-
ous short stories, articles, and plays;
Whereas Zora Neale Hurston was active in the historic Har-
lem 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;
HRES 60 IH
Whereas Zora Neale Hurston has been recognized for her lit-
erary 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 Mor-
gan State University and the annual Zora Neale Hurston
Festival of Arts and Humanities in America’s first Afri-
can-American incorporated town of Eatonville, Florida:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that—
(1) the United States Postal Service should
issue a postage stamp in honor of Zora Neale
Hurston;
(2) the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee
should recommend to the Postmaster General that
such a postage stamp be issued.
Æ