Romeo and Juliet otherwise specified, are taken from the Arden Shakespeare second edition (Gibbons, 1980) based on the Q2 text of 1599, with elements from Q1 of 1597. Under its referencing system, which uses Roman numerals, II.ii.33 means act 2, scene 2, line 33, and a 0 in place of a scene number refers to the prologue to the act. Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and along with "Hamlet",
Their Eyes Were Watching God based. Racism was gaining legitimacy in the decades leading up to Hurston's writing of "Their Eyes Were Watching God". Baptist preacher Thomas Dixon, Jr. wrote "The Leopard's Spots: A Romance of the White Man's Burden" in 1902, asserting white supremacy amidst supposed African-American evil and corruption. The book was so popular that Dixon wrote a trilogy. His second novel, "", was adapted for the silent film "The Birth of a Nation", portraying African-American men in an unintelligent, sexually aggressive light (1915). During the Harlem Renaissance, African-American writers were urged to write toward an Uplift program, to improve the image of