Zora Neale Hurston

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ZNH was an anthropologist who published articles on the subject of African-American folklore, and who also wrote plays, novels, short stories, political and cultural criticism, and an autobiography. She was a central contributor to the Harlem Renaissance , and since the rediscovery of her work in the 1970s she has been recognized as a complex, powerful African-American literary foremother.
Black and white, head-and-shoulders photograph of Zora Neale Hurston smiling. She stands, wearing a small black hat and a sweater with decorated neckline. Library of Congress.

Milestones

7 January 1891

ZNH was born, the fifth of eight children, in Alabama, USA (not, as older reference sources say, at Eatonville, Florida).
Many reference books give her birth date as ten years later, following the story by which she herself lived for most of her life. Only around 1990 was the truth of her age revealed.
White, Evelyn. Alice Walker. A Life. Norton.
249-50
Commire, Anne, and Deborah Klezmer, editors. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Yorkin Publications.
7: 591
Gornick, Vivian. “Hiding in plain sight”. Women’s Review of Books, Vol.
xx
, No. 2, pp. 6-7.
6
Harris, Trudier, editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 51. Gale Research.
51: 134

May 1921

ZNH 's first published work, the short story John Redding Goes to Sea, was issued in Stylus, Howard University 's literary magazine.
Harris, Trudier, editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 51. Gale Research.
51: 134

18 September 1937

ZNH published her most famous work, Their Eyes Were Watching God: A Novel.
Harris, Trudier, editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 51. Gale Research.
51: 139

28 January 1960

ZNH died in Fort Pierce, Florida, in obscurity and poverty.
Harris, Trudier, editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 51. Gale Research.
51: 133
Commire, Anne, and Deborah Klezmer, editors. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Yorkin Publications.
7: 591

Biography

Birth, Family, Early Years

7 January 1891

ZNH was born, the fifth of eight children, in Alabama, USA (not, as older reference sources say, at Eatonville, Florida).
Many reference books give her birth date as ten years later, following the story by which she herself lived for most of her life. Only around 1990 was the truth of her age revealed.
White, Evelyn. Alice Walker. A Life. Norton.
249-50
Commire, Anne, and Deborah Klezmer, editors. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Yorkin Publications.
7: 591
Gornick, Vivian. “Hiding in plain sight”. Women’s Review of Books, Vol.
xx
, No. 2, pp. 6-7.
6
Harris, Trudier, editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 51. Gale Research.
51: 134

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