[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 129 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 129

  Expressing the sense of the Congress that a postage stamp should be 
                  issued to honor Zora Neale Hurston.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 29, 1997

  Ms. Brown of Florida (for herself, Mr. Towns, Mr. McCollum, Ms. Ros-
  Lehtinen, Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. Watt of North Carolina, Mrs. Meek of 
Florida, Mr. Conyers, Ms. Millender-McDonald, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. 
Clyburn, Ms. McCarthy of Missouri, Ms. Christian-Green, Mr. Frost, Mr. 
Dellums, Mrs. Clayton, Ms. Norton, Mr. Bonior, Mr. Brown of California, 
  Mrs. Maloney of New York, Ms. Carson, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of 
Texas, Mr. Payne, Mr. Filner, Ms. Stabenow, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. Slaughter, 
Mr. Rush, Ms. Velazquez, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Foley, Mr. Davis 
 of Illinois, Mr. Torres, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. Watts of Oklahoma, Mr. 
 Snyder, and Mr. Goss) submitted the following concurrent resolution; 
 which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the Congress that a postage stamp should be 
                  issued to honor 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;
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 collaborated on works and associated with Langston 
        Hughes and other notables of the Harlem Renaissance;
Whereas Zora Neale Hurston led an extraordinary life 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;
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
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the United States Postal Service should issue a postage 
        stamp in honor of Zora Neale Hurston;
            (2) such stamp should be unveiled at the 1999 Zora Neale 
        Hurston Festival in Eatonville, Florida; and
            (3) a copy of this resolution should be sent to the 
        Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee of the United States Postal 
        Service and the Postmaster General.
                                 <all>