The 1920s and 1930s marked a key time for Black culture. Writers penned stories about African American life. Jazz music exploded. This was the Harlem . Zora Neale Hurston played a huge part in this movement. The author celebrated Black life in her novels.
Hurston was born in Alabama in 1891. She had seven brothers and sisters. Her parents had both been enslaved. Her father became a preacher. Her mother was a teacher.
The Hurstons moved to Eatonville, Florida. Zora was a toddler at the time. Eatonville was the first Black town in the United States. Young Zora was surrounded by successful Black people. For example, her father was the mayor. Eatonville shaped Hurston’s writing.
Sadly, when Hurston was just 13 years old, her mother died. Hurston had to move to Jacksonville, Florida. Life was different there. There were fewer Black people.
Hurston later went to college. She graduated from Howard University in 1920. Hurston began publishing her own short stories. She moved to New York City in 1925. There, Hurston met other writers. One was poet Langston Hughes. Together, the artists became important voices of Black culture. They wrote about African American life.
Hurston published “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” in 1928. The essay told of her move to a white neighborhood in Jacksonville at age 13. “Someone is always at my elbow reminding me that I am the granddaughter of slaves,” Hurston wrote. She felt different. But she wouldn’t let it get to her. “Among the thousand white persons, I am a dark rock surged upon,” she wrote. “But I remain myself.”
The essay goes on. Hurston writes: “Sometimes, I feel against. But it does not make me angry.”
Hurston shared the Black experience in books as well. She published her first novel in 1934. Her most famous novel is Their Eyes Were Watching God. She published the book in 1937. The piece of fiction tells of a Black woman on a path to independence.
Hurston wrote books, short stories, essays, articles, and plays. Hurston’s works were mostly popular among Black audiences. She died in 1960. And it wasn’t until the 1970s that her work became more widely known. Today, she is known as one of the best writers in history.
Updated March 14, 2023, 5:01 P.M. (ET)
By Alexa Tirapelli
