 The book is set in Florida during the early 1900s, and it became a classic of the Harlem Renaissance and has been highly influential on African-American literature and in women's literature as well. Our guest this evening to help us understand the impact of Their Eyes Were Watching God is Tiffany Ruby Patterson, a history professor at Vanderbilt University. She's also chair of the African-American and Diaspora Studies Department, and she's the author of this book,