[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 208 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 208

  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

                             July 25, 2001

  Ms. Brown of Florida 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;

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 Suwanee'', two collections of folklore, 
        ``Mules and Men'' 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 discoveries by the Library of Congress 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, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the United States Postal Service should issue a postage 
        stamp in honor of Zora Neale Hurston; and
            (2) the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee should recommend 
        to the Postmaster General that such a postage stamp be issued.
                                 <all>