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From the late 1960's through the 1970's, the growing Civil Rights Movement helped develop an Afro-centric viewpoint which brought greater appreciation for African-American Arts and Literature. The Civil Rights Movement also helped launch the Feminist Movement, and with it, the evolution of feminist critical theory. It was in this environment that the reprint of Their Eyes Were Watching God was finally able to receive the respect that it deserved, but which its initial printing did not achieve. This period was marked by an explosion of praise for Hurston's novel, for both her story and her literary skill.
1967
Robinson, Wilhelmena S. Historical Negro Biogaraphies. New York: Publishers Co., pp. 208-9.
Calls Their Eyes Were Watching God a "a startling story of Southern Negroes, which may be classified as an historical novel, since it covers such deliRneations of life as poverty, race hate, segregation and the economic struggles of the Negro."