Zora Neale Hurston wrote, "Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves. It

fails to register depression with me. Slavery is sixty years in the past. The operation was

successful and the patient is doing well, thank you. The terrible struggle that made me

an American out of a potential slave said "On the line!" The Reconstruction said "Get

set!" and the generation before said "Go!" I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in

the stretch to look behind and weep. Slavery is the price I paid for civilization, and the

choice was not with me. It is a bully adventure and worth all that I have paid through my

ancestors for it. No one on earth ever had a greater chance for glory. The world to be

won and nothing to be lost. It is thrilling to think--to know that for any act of mine, I shall

get twice as much praise or twice as much blame. It is quite exciting to hold the center

of the national stage, with the spectators not knowing whether to laugh or to weep. "