The Life of Zora Neale Hurston By: Stephanie Hare and Janae McGallicher

Zora Neale hurston Born: January 7th, 1891 Died: January 28th, 1960

Early Childhood Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7th, 1891 in the small town of Notasulga, Alabama. Her mother, Lucy Potts Hurston died when Zora was a young child. Her father, John Hurston was a carpenter and a Baptist preacher.

By the time Zora was eight years old, she took a great interest in writing poetry. However, her father, John, disapproved of any reading or writing of any kind, for he thought that it was “devil’s work”.(1) He was determined for Zora to become a missionary instead.

When her mother died when Zora was thirteen years old, her father decided to send his children to boarding school. This was an especially devastating event for Zora, because her mother was the only one who encouraged her dream, never ceasing to tell her children to always “jump at de sun” (7). Zora was rather enthusiastic about this-she desired to gain an education in order to pursue her dream of becoming a writer.

Soon, John ceased to pay the tuition for his children to continue their education at their boarding school. Zora and her siblings began to move from home to home, and were passed around by their relatives. Zora became very depressed when she realized that work would be all that she would ever know, and an education did not seem to present itself as a reality. She was still very depressed about her mother’s passing as well, and later wrote, "Mama died at sundown and changed a world” (7).

Despite the circumstances, Zora decided to leave her hometown in 1917 to pursue her dream of becoming an acclaimed author/poet. She attended Morgan Academy in Baltimore to finish high school, and successfully finished in June, 1918. Zora went on to attend Howard Prep School, and Howard University, to earn her associates degree in 1920.

While attending college, Hurston began to publish the first of her many works to come. For example, she published a short story John Redding Goes to Sea in the university magazine. Hurston also submitted some of her work to the Opportunity Literary Contest.

In 1925, Hurston began attending Barnard College to expand her education to the field of anthropology. She studied under Franz Boas, who brought her to New York, to be a part of his field study.

While in New York, Zora became friends with several influential writers of the Harlem Renaissance, such as Langston Hughes, Wallace Thurman, and Jessie Fauset.

Zora’s Influences Zora’s writing is a result of the many influences that she had in her life, including acclaimed authors of the time, her family and early life, her friends, and the revolutions going on around her.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow When Zora was a child, she especially enjoyed the poetry works by Longfellow. Even with the little education that she received as a young child, Zora was able to relate to Longfellow’s easygoing style. He offered a sense of optimism through his poetry, and gave a vivid image of the American dream.

Langston Hughes When Zora was studying in New York, she met several very influential authors of the time, including Langston Hughes. They became close friends, and together, were the preeminent authors of the Harlem Renaissance. However, a falling out between them occurred between their collaborative play, Mule Bone.

Encouragers of the Dream There were several people in Zora’s life that encouraged her dream of becoming an author, even when her father was totally opposed to the idea. Financial support came from Charlotte Osgood Mason. Joe Clark, a close family friend of the Hurston’s encouraged her story-telling habit as well.

Inspiration from Within In much of her work, from short-stories to award-winning novels, Hurston uses her own life’s story as a template, and many of her characters reflect her own life, and her trying experiences. This style is especially prevalent in Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Eatonville, Florida When Zora was a very young child, her family of ten moved to the small town of Eatonville, Florida. This was a very small, self-governing town outside of Orlando. It was primarily African- American, and Hurston was very proud to be a part of it. She once described it as a “pure Negro town [with a] Black charter, Black mayor, Black town council, Black marshal, and all” (5).

Hurston starts out Their Eyes Were Watching God by depicting Janie very much like herself. In any small town, there is a sense of “small-town gossip.” Especially with her father holding several political positions in Eatonville, the Hurston’s were under constant ridicule, much like the stares and deceiving whispers that Janie receives at the beginning of the novel.

Marriage Upon arriving back to Florida to study folklore, Hurston met and eventually married Herbert Sheen in 1927. However, her career took her all over the south, and she finally divorced Sheen in 1931. Janie did a similar thing, by getting divorced, and only worrying about what she felt was right for her, no matter the circumstances.

The very trips that took Hurston away from her first husband, seemed crucial to her novels. Their Eyes Were Watching God has been described as a novel containing "the use of dialect and folklore materials” (7). The dialect used in the novel was very common for that of much of the Southern Literature at the time.

Other Works Zora Neale Hurston uses her own influence in several other of her novels as well, such as… Dust Tracks On The Road Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica

Zora’s Death Beginning in 1959, Hurston began suffering several medical problems, such as a stroke. On January 28th, 1960, it was declared that Zora had died of hyperactive heart disease. She was buried in an unmarked grave, that was not found until 1973.

Sources Information: http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/386/zhurston.html http://www.teenreads.com/authors/au-hurston-zora.asp http://bioandlyrics.com/zoranealhurston/biography http://soulofamerica.com/orlando-eatonville-zora-neale-hurston.phtml http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben1/chap9/hurston.html http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Zora+Neale+Hurston's+Their+Eyes+Were+Wat ching+God'+and+the+influence...-a013893631 http://www.thenation.com/doc/20030217/zook/2

Sources (continued) Pictures: http://www.rockets.sparcc.org/HS/Teachers/Ms.%20Campbell/campbell/hurston.html http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/277382/73515/First-edition-dust-jacket-of-Zora- Neale-Hurstons-Their-Eyes http://www.geh.org/ar/strip18/htmlsrc/m197701891477_ful.html http://www.aaregistry.com/detail.php?id=315 http://www.flickr.com/photos/47033737@N00/6371733/ http://classiclit.about.com/od/americanliteratur/ig/American-Romantic-Period/Henry-Wadsworth- Longfellow.htm http://www.kobreguide.com/public/IMGlargephotozora.big.jpg http://urbanprometheus.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/sweat-by-zora-neale-hurston/ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hurston_Hughes.jpg