1. Zora Neale Hurston
Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to “jump at de sun.” We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.
- Zora Neale Hurston

2. Childhood Born January 7, 1891 in Notasulga, AL (some say 1901)
Moved to Eatonville, FL in 1892
Mother dies in 1904
Father remarries a woman only six years older than Zora

3. 10 year span that stumps scholars….
Missing Years
10 year span that stumps scholars….

4. Education
1917- Zora is twenty-six. She claims her birth year was 1901 in order to enroll in high school.
1918- She graduates
1920- She receives an associate’s degree from Howard University.
1925- She begins at Barnard College.

5. That’s Interesting…
She was very close to Langston Hughes.

6. More Fun Facts
She studied Anthropology at Barnard College and was hired to study the African-American culture in Florida. This was funded by the Federal Writer’s Project.

7. Haiti and the Bahamas
Zora made trips to these islands in search of their folklore. Her focus was on voodoo and the presence of zombies.

8. Haiti cont’d…
While in Haiti, Zora wrote Their Eyes were Watching God, her most famous novel.

9. Something for Everyone
Zora’s folklore gatherings led to the publication of several children’s books.

10. Death
After all her accomplishments, Zora died in obscurity in Fort Pierce, FL in 1960.

11. Rebirth
1973- Alice Walker locates the site of her grave and purchases a headstone for it. The inscription reads "Zora Neale Hurston: A Genius of the South."

12. "Confident to the point of conceit, she was by most accounts a flamboyant, infinitely inventive chameleon of a woman, who could make herself equally at home among the Haitian voodoo doctors who informed her research and the Park Avenue patrons who financed it. She was a lightning rod of contradiction and controversy. A devoted daughter of the rural South.— Ann duCille, "Looking for Zora"