ZORA NEALE HURSTON

"I have the nerve to walk my own way, however hard, in my

search for reality, rather than climb upon the rattling wagon

of wishful i l lusions."

- Letter from Zora Neale Hurston to Countee Cullen

B. January 7, 1891

Notasulga, Alabama

Moved to Eatonville, Florida as a toddler

Eatonville was always home

Slightly idealized

CHILDHOOD

Eatonville was the nation’s first

incorporated black township. It was

established in 1887. Growing up here

influenced ZNH greatly—she was

surrounded by positive, black role -

models.

EATONVILLE

Hurston's mother died in 1904. Zora was only 13.

She said, "That hour began my wanderings. Not so much in

geography, but in time. Then not so much in time as in spirit .“

Her father quickly remarried

Zora and her stepmother did not get along

Leaves home

TRAGEDY STRIKES

In 1917, ZNH ended up in Baltimore where she knocked ten

years off her age so she could finish high school. She was ten

years younger from that day on…

GOING BACK IN TIME

Zora graduated from Barnard college in 1928, where she had

written—and published—several stories and articles.

She “elbowed” her way into the Harlem Renaissance,

befriending the likes of Langston Hughes

ZNH AND THE RENAISSANCE

Jonah's Gourd Vine (novel)

Mules and Men (a collection of folklore).

Their Eyes Were Watching God (novel, 1937)

Her most famous and well-received novel

Tell My Horse (a study of Caribbean Voodoo practices , 1938)

Moses, Man of the Mountain (novel, 1939)

Dust Tracks on a Road , (autobiography, 1942)

MAJOR WORKS

Like many writers of her time, Hurston was not rich, although

she was famous in her lifetime.

She died on January 28, 1960 of a stroke.

Her neighbors had to take up a collection for her funeral. Her

grave remained unmarked until 1973.

A FAMILIAR FATE