Zora Neale Hurston

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. 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"