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Difficulty: MediumThe New Negro Movement and Cultural Debates

Read the following excerpt from Zora Neale Hurston's essay 'Characteristics of Negro Expression' (1934) and answer the question that follows.

'The Negro's universal mimicry is not [a] sign of a lack of originality as the detractors believe, but is rather an evidence of his power of absorption and modification. Characters, dances, and songs, once encountered, are immediately lived. The Negro has conformed the foreign tongue to his acoustic needs. He has made over a great part of the tongue so that we have "negroized" English... The will to adorn is the second most notable characteristic of Negro expression.'

Which of the following debates within the New Negro Movement is most directly illustrated by Hurston's arguments in the excerpt?

  1. A
    The debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois over whether vocational training or classical education was superior for racial advancement.
  2. B
    The debate over whether to support Marcus Garvey’s mass political movement to emigrate to Africa or W.E.B. Du Bois's focus on elite diplomatic congresses.
  3. The debate over whether African American artists should create a distinct aesthetic based on folk culture or conform to Western literary and artistic traditions.Answer
  4. D
    The debate over whether pre-colonial African religions were simplistic animism or complex, monotheistic systems.

Answer

The debate over whether African American artists should create a distinct aesthetic based on folk culture or conform to Western literary and artistic traditions.
The correct answer is correct because Hurston highlights the unique, creative ways in which African Americans modified the English language and cultural forms (like dances and songs). This perspective validates Black vernacular and folk culture as a legitimate source of art, representing the side of the debate that embraced distinct African American folk traditions rather than conforming to Eurocentric high-art standards.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the passage to identify the central focus.
The passage focus is on Zora Neale Hurston defending Black cultural modification, linguistic adaptation, and the unique artistic value of vernacular expression (the 'will to adorn').
Understanding the core argument of the excerpt is necessary to connect it to historical debates.
2
Relate the passage's themes to known intellectual debates of the New Negro Movement.
Hurston's validation of folk expressions directly corresponds to the debate over whether Black artists should embrace distinct cultural traditions or conform to established Eurocentric standards to demonstrate intellectual capability.
Connecting the specific text to broader curriculum concepts allows identification of the correct historical debate.

Key Concept

The New Negro Movement and Cultural Debates
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Topics

The New Negro Movement and Cultural Debates

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