1: Author Biography

Author Biography

Rachael Trunnell

 

Zora Neale Hurston was born in Alabama in 1891 (Gonzales). Hurston’s family moved to Florida a year after she was born. Throughout her life, Hurston considered Florida her true home, and her stories reflected her familiarity with the area. Her family moved to Eatonville, Florida which was a setting that influenced many of Hurston’s works (Lillios). Eatonville was a town that was solely an African-American community. Because of her upbringing there, Hurston was able to see blacks accomplishing great things independent of the white community (Boyd). This atmosphere greatly influenced Hurston’s outlook on life and the African-American community which in turn influenced her writing.

Hurston’s mother died when she was only about thirteen years old. Because her mother had encouraged her dreaming and her father was more of a practical realist, her mother’s death and her father’s remarriage eventually prompted Hurston to leave her home to travel to different places (Gonzales). Many of her new jobs were centered on the theatre, and these new experiences again would have an impact in Hurston’s view of culture. Because of new acquaintances and her wit and personality, Hurston was an influence with her short-story writings and plays in the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920’s (Boyd). Again, seeing this side of the African-American community influenced her future works.

            During the 1930’s, Hurston’s works were finally being published, among which is one that is considered her greatest work, Their Eyes Were Watching God (Boyd). She wrote this book in seven weeks during a trip to Haiti and got it published in 1937 (Gonzales). Its central themes of racism, love, prejudice, and the depraved state of man all testify to the events and human interactions that Hurston experienced throughout her lifetime. Sadly, it took more than Hurston’s lifetime for Their Eyes Were Watching God to have the wide range of influence that it has today, and the funds it brought in were not sufficient to fully support Hurston when it was published (Boyd). She stayed in Florida for the rest of her life and died in 1960 (Lillios). She was buried in Florida, the place she called home, and though her works did not receive as much recognition during her lifetime, they are widely known today as some of the best works written about the African-American community during the early 1900’s. 

 

Bibliography

Gonzales, Kathryn. "Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)." Csustan.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.

Boyd, Valerie. "About Zora Neale Hurston." Zoranealehurston.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.

Lillios, Anna. "Zora Neale Hurston Digital Archive." Zora Neale Hurston Digital Archive. Chdr.cah.ucf.edu, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2013.