The Author Biography

The Author Biography was created by Taylor Roberts. 

           Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7, 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama, but according to her autobiography Dusk Tracks On a Road, Hurston claims to be born in Eatonville, Florida (Editors). Her claim comes from the fact that her father moved her to Eatonville, the town in which he had a big part in creating, at a young age that she has no recollection of Notasulga (Editors). Hurston’s mother died when she was nine years old which led her father to remarry soon after, but Hurston had problems with her stepmother (Biography). Hurston’s father soon sent her to school in Jacksonville, Florida where Hurston started to greatly miss her mother (Biography). Since Zora Hurston was greatly missing her mother, she was searching for unconditional love in which she did not find by being passed around from relative to relative and from her many failed relationships (Biography). To support herself during this time, Hurston worked as a maid and eventually earned her associate degree from Howard University in 1920 where she wrote her first short story called Stylus (Editors). Out of all of her writings, Hurston’s most famous writing was Their Eyes Were Watching God which she wrote in 1937 which was about, “an African American female, Janie, growing into adulthood searching for her identity” (Biography), which closely symbolizes Hurston’s younger years. Hurston also wrote many African American folklores centering on her home-town in Florida by using her education from Howard University (Biography). In 1942, Hurston published her autobiography, but her career began suffering soon after because she was accused of molesting a 10 year old boy, despite her evidence of being out of the country during this time (Editors). In Hurston’s final years, she had great financial difficulty despite her excellence in her literature works (Editors). In addition to her financial difficulties during her later life, she experienced backlash from her, “criticism of the 1955 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which called for the end of school segregation” (Editors). After trying many attempts to restart her writing career, Hurston suffered several strokes which led to her death on January 28, 1960, where she was poor and alone (Editors). Zora Neale Hurston was buried in Fort Pierce, Florida in an unmarked grave (Editors).  

Bibliography

Biography, Encyclopedia of World. Zora Neale Hurston Biography . n.d. http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ho-Jo/Hurston-Zora-Neale.html. 6 May 2017.

Editors, Biography.com. Zora Neale Hurston Biography.com . n.d. http://www.biography.com/people/zora-neale-hurston-9347659. 6 May 2017.