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.

I remember the very day that I became colored. Up to my thirteenth year I lived in the little Negro town of Eatonville, Florida. It is exclusively a colored town. The only white people I knew passed through the town going to or coming from Orlando. The native whites rode dusty horses, the Northern tourists chugged down the sandy village road in automobiles. The town knew the Southerners and never stopped cane chewing1 when they passed. But the Northerners were something else again. They were peered at cautiously from behind curtains by the timid. The more venturesome would come out on the porch to watch them go past and got just as much pleasure out of the tourists as the tourists got out of the village.

The front porch might seem a daring place for the rest of the town, but it was a gallery seat for me. My favorite place was atop the gate-post. Proscenium box for a born first-nighter. Not only did I enjoy the show, but I didn`t mind the actors knowing that I liked it. I usually spoke to them in passing. I`d wave at them and when they returned my salute, I would say something like this: "Howdy-do-well-I-thank-you-where-you-goin`r" Usually automobile or the horse paused at this, and after a queer exchange of compliments, I would probably "go a piece of the way" with them, as we say in farthest Florida. If one of my family happened to come to the front in time to see me, of course negotiations would be rudely broken off. But even so, it is clear that I was the first "welcome-to-our-state" Floridian, and I hope the Miami Chamber of Commerce will please take notice.

Do journal on "How Does It Feel to Be Colored Me" Zora Neale Hurston explores her own identity and compares herself to several other people. How does she identify herself? How does she do this using figurative language? PLEASE WRITE 3 PARAGRAPHS In order to do your journal assignment, you will need to understand these types of figurative language. Categories of Figurative Language There are seven categories of figurative language. The five most common are: ◦Imagery: A set of mental pictures or images. The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas. The use of expressive or evocative images in art, literature, or music. ◦Simile: a figure of speech comparing two unlike things that is often introduced by like or as (as in cheeks like roses.) ◦Metaphor: a word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar ◦Alliteration: the use of words that begin with the same sound near one another (as in wild and woolly or a babbling brook ) ◦Personification: the practice of representing a thing or idea as a person in art, literature, etc. ◦(All definitions are taken from the website of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary: www.merriam-webster.com)