The Resume

(January 7, 1891-January 28, 1960)
Born in Notasulga, Alabama
Wrote ‘How It Feels to Be Colored Me' (1928), ‘Jonah's Gourd Vine' (1934), ‘Mules and Men' (1935), ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God' (1937), ‘Moses, Man of the Mountain' (1939), ‘Dust Tracks on a Road' (1942) and ‘Seraph on the Suwanee' (1948)

Why she might be annoying:

She shaved a dozen years off her age, claiming to be born in 1903.
She ran away from home as a teenager after a fight with her stepmother.
Her third marriage lasted only 10 months.
Her use of phonetic speech for her black characters (Example: ‘Ah'll wash yo' tub uh ‘gator guts and dat quick') was attacked as reinforcing stereotypes.
She opposed school integration.
She died in a county welfare home and was buried in an unmarked grave.

Why she might not be annoying:

She was first black student to graduate from Barnard University.
She studied anthropology at Columbia University alongside Margaret Mead.
She received a Guggenheim Fellowship to study religious practices in Haiti.
While studying local dances in the Bahamas, she lived through a hurricane.
'Their Eyes Were Watching God' is considered a classic of feminist literature.
Alice Walker provided a gravestone for her and revived interest in her writings with an article in Ms. magazine (1975).

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• About.com Top 100 Women of History [2009] (Ranked: 67)
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 03]
• Ebony Magazine's 10 Most Unforgettable Black Women [1990]
• Ebony Magazine's 100 Most Fascinating Black Women of the 20th Century [March 1999]
• Google Modified Its Logo For My Birthday (Google Doodles)
• Guggenheim Fellowship Grant Recipients
• Harlem Renaissance
• I am on a U.S. Postage Stamp [H-L]
• I Attended Barnard College
• I Did Not Graduate High School [F-I]
• I Died in 1960 (Ranked: 69)
• I Died in Debt
• I Earned a High School Equivalency Diploma
• I Write Bildungsroman
• National Endowment for the Arts’ The Big Read Selections [Authors] (Ranked: 2006)
• National Women's Hall of Fame (Ranked: 1994)
• NPR's 100 Best Literary Characters of the 20th Century [Authors - 2002] (Ranked: 55)
• Profiles 19751-20000 (Ranked: 19901)
• Sweet Home Alabama
• The My Hero Project
• Time Magazine's All-Time 100 Novels [Authors]
• Women Who Kept Their Maiden Name After Marriage [Lucy Stoners]
• Writers Featured in the Barnes & Noble Authors Mural

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 7 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 11 Votes: 72.73% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 43 Votes: 76.74% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 14 Votes: 35.71% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 33 Votes: 57.58% Annoying
In 2009, Out of 32 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
In 2008, Out of 43 Votes: 48.84% Annoying
In 2007, Out of 57 Votes: 45.61% Annoying