Their Eyes Were Watching God

Heavily criticized and controversial, Their Eyes Were Watching God shows a unconventional portal of Black Southern Life and the rejection of racial protest fiction, during a time where authors within the Harlem Renaissance expected literature to engage with racial struggles. Choosing sensuality over social commentary, Hurston brings her character's into the modern era of blackness and away from the stereotypical 'aunties', 'uncles', and 'mammies' with a story that questions if a black woman can be free and independent while in love.