How It Feels To Be Colored Me

How It Feels to Be Colored Me is an autobiographical essay written by Zora Neale Hurston and first published in 1928.

In the essay, Hurston reflects on her childhood in Eatonville, Florida, an all-Black community where she grew up with a strong sense of identity and belonging. After moving away, she became more conscious of how American society viewed her through the lens of race, but she refused to let that perception define her. Instead, she presents a confident and independent sense of self.

Hurston explores what it means to be a Black woman in the United States while rejecting the idea that her identity should be centered on suffering. She emphasizes individuality, resilience, and personal freedom, describing moments when she feels intensely aware of race and others when she simply experiences herself as a person.

With wit, energy, and vivid imagery, How It Feels to Be Colored Me offers a distinctive perspective on race, identity, and self-determination, making it one of Hurston's most widely read essays.

"I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother’s side was not an Indian chief."