8/14/2019 Zora Neale Hurston Best Known for Her Book

1/2

Zora Neale Hurston best known for her book "Their Eyes Are Watching God" (1937), was bornin an all black town of Eatonville, Florida on January 7, 1891. Her mother Lucy Potts Hurston, aformer school teacher, died when Zora was a child. Her father, John Hurston was a Carpenterand Baptist preacher. Zora was the fifth child.

As a very small girl Zora began to show interest in reading and writing poetry. She read anything

that she could find. Her father forbade her to read novels, he considered them the devil's work.At the age of eight Zora declared that she was going to be a poet like Longfellow. Her fatherbecame furious and forbade her to become a Poet, but to become a Missionary. Her mother Lucyencouraged her to continue to read and write poems. Her mother called her "mama's child".

At the age of nine when Zora's mother died, Zora's world changed. Zora father remarried andZora, her brother and sister were sent off to a boarding school. After a year Zora father stoppaying Zora's school fee and asked the school to adopt Zora. Zora and her siblings wereunwanted by their stepmother and father and were sent to live with relatives and friends. Zoralived in a series of homes. During this time Zora had to work and it depressed her when she sawother children going to school. Still wandering, Zora went to live with her older brother, butfinally after Zora rocky relationship with her family she left Etonville in 1917, with a suitcase

filled with newspaper, to keep her comb, brush and toothbrush from rattling to attend MorganAcademy in Baltimore and complete high school. She then went on to Howard Prep School andHoward University, in Washington and earned her associate degree. Zora nicknamed HowardUniversity "Negro Harvard".

Between 1910 and 1920 Southern blacks poured into Harlem, in manhattan, and began doublingthe population of New York. Harlem became a cultural Magnet that attracted unknownmusicians, artists, poets and novelists; here they were free to develop their abilities. Educatedand talented they pour into Harlem. Zora became part of the movement. In May 1925 Zora foundherself at an award dinner in Manhattan where 15 out of 732 black contestants received anaward. Zora received an award for coming second place for her play, "Color Struck".

While in New York Zora became famous for her part in the Harlem Renaissance's Literati. She

became well known not only for her writing, but also for her outspokenness, her distinct way ofdressing and her refusal to be ashamed of her culture. Zora became close friends with LangstonHughes, another great writer. They were both funded by the same patron, Charlotte Mason, awealthy white woman. Zora was very adept in her quest for funds and was criticized by many. In1930 Zora, Langston and their typist collaborated on a play. Zora wrote the play and Hughescreated the plot. Zora was unwilling to share the writing credit and sent the copyright with onlyher name on it. Langston threatened to sue.

Devastated Langston ended his friendship with Zora Neale and Charlotte Mason. Years laterHughes retaliated in his autobiography by calling Zora the "Perfect Darkie" for her white friends.Zora did not mention Langston in her autobiography, the break up of their friendship was finaland to some people it marked the end of Harlem renaissance.

Zora was a pioneer in the study of African-American folklore writings; she traveled back toFlorida in 1927, to New Orleans in 1928 and to the Caribbean later on. In New Orleans shestudied voodoo(folklore). In New Orleans she recognized voodoo as a system of faith no strangerthan any other religion, but in Haiti and Jamaica, she observed voodoo as a terrifying experience.In 1935 Zora published "Mules and Men", it demonstrated her unique methods of collectingfolklore.

Zora wrote her masterpiece "Their Eyes Are Watching God", in Haiti, it was published in 1937.It carried a message about the misery of black life in America. Their eyes evolved around a black

8/14/2019 Zora Neale Hurston Best Known for Her Book

2/2

woman in search of happiness. Zora admits to putting all the tenderness of her passion she feltfor a man of West Indian descent into the book, and that the character Tea Cake possessed thegood looks, physical strength and capacity to love, like the man she loved. Zora also revealedthrough Jamie, the female character in the book, the jealousy and love she felt for her true love.

Richard Wright , Author of "Black Boy", disliked Zora portrayal of blacks as "common folks

working beanfields". He considered writing a political tool to describe the horrors of racism. Hetherefore thought the story of "Their Eyes are watching God, the story of Jamie Crawford awasted one. He said the characters were too simple. In 1942 critics blasted Zora again, this timefor her autobiography, "Dust Tracks On A Road". Harold Peece called her autobiography "Thetragedy of a gifted mind."

Zora career reached it peak in the thirties. She published five books including "Moses, Man OfThe Mountain", a black version of the biblical story of Moses.

During the late 1950's Zora began to publish less and less, she was rejected frequently and had tofind other ways to make a living, including being a maid for a while. She continued to write,however her finances and health failed. Zora lived her last years in obscurity. In 1959 shesuffered a stroke and had to enter into St. Lucie County Welfare Home. She died penniless

January 28. 1960 and was buried in an unmarked grave in a segregated cemetery in Florida.

In 1973, writer Alice Walker discovered her grave and put a gravemarker on the site. Alicepublished an essay "In Search Of Zora Neale Hurston", in Ms. Magazine in March 1975 andresurrected the literacy world's interest in Zora.

Return to the New York City Women's Biography Hub

http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/386/main.htmlhttp://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/386/main.html