1. Zora Neale Hurston “A Genius of The South” 1891 --- 1960
Novelist, Folklorist, Anthropologist
Click here to view a popular Zora website.

2. Zora’s Youth
Born January 7 between 1891 & 1901 (often lied about her age)
Raised in Eatonville, FL – the first all-Black, self-governed town (her father was mayor)
Mother inspired her to “Jump at de Sun,” which became Zora’s motto in life
Loved to eavesdrop on the townsfolk telling their “lies” on the porch of Joe Clarke’s store

3. Zora’s Education
Attended boarding school after mother died early in Hurston’s life
Graduated from Morgan Academy High School
Majored in English at Howard University
Moved to Harlem to write
Studied Anthropology with Franz Boas at Barnard College

4. Zora’s Writing
Returned to the South to write—believed that was the only place to find authentic Black culture
Initially wrote under the patronage of a white woman, Charlotte Mason, but broke ties with her because she limited Zora’s creative freedom
Used folklore and dialect in her writing

5. Zora’s View on Race “At certain time I have no race, I am me.”
“I am not tragically colored.”
“A feel most colored when I am thrown up against a sharp white background.”
- from Huston’s essay, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”

6. Their Eyes Were Watching God
Hurston’s most popular novel
Published in 1937
First modern, feminist text written by an African American
Considered the last text of the Harlem Renaissance

7. Summary of Their Eyes…
Set in Eatonville, the main character, Janie, struggles to gain her voice and identity despite being held back by the men in her life. After three marriages, the third to a younger man named Tea Cakes, she triumphs in her life mission without compromising her dignity as a woman.

8. Other Works By Hurston Novels: Jonah’s Gourd Vine Mules and Men
Tell My Horse
Moses, Man of the Mountain
Dust Tracks on a Road (autobiography)
Seraph on the Suwanee
“Spunk”
Color Struck: A Play
“Sweat”
“The Gilded Six-Bits”
“My Most Humiliating Jim Crow Experience”
“Conscience of the Court” (negative reaction to Brown vs. Board of Education)

9. Zora’s Death Died penniless in 1960
Unappreciated and criticized by authors such as W.E.B. DuBois and Richard Wright for not being “race conscious” enough and writing about folklore instead of using art as propaganda to further the Black race
Buried in an unmarked grave

10. The Rediscovery of Zora Neale Hurston
In 1973, Alice Walker (author of The Color Purple) revived some of Hurston’s work, later publishing it in two volumes: I Love Myself: When I Am Laughing… and Then Again When I Am Looking Mean and Impressive and Spunk
Walker also put a headstone on Hurston’s grave, dubbing her “A Genius of the South”

11. Click here to take a quiz on Zora Neale Hurston…