Zora Neale Hurston Book summary

Zora Neale Hurston was born on the 7th of January, 1891, in Alabama, to John Hurston, who was a carpenter and Baptist preacher, and Lucy Potts Hurston, a former schoolteacher. Hurston grew up in the town of Eatonville, which was the first all-black incorporated town in the US. Her father served several terms as the mayor of the town.

She studied anthropology with Franz Bora, who is widely believed to be the greatest anthropologist of the 20th century, at the Barnard College. Her time in Eatonville and her anthropological studies are believed to have played a great role in her writing. Zora Neale Hurston saw significant success early in her literary career and was recognized for her anthropological research as well. She consulted with big Hollywood productions and continued to write late into her age, however, she was soon reduced to poverty and was forced to work as a maid in the 1950s. She died alone and penniless on the 28th of January, 1960 in a welfare home in Florida, where she was buried in an unmarked grave.

Alice Grant, a prominent black author had discovered Zora Neale Hurston's work in the 1960s. She couldn't abide the thought of the author being buried in an unmarked grave, and so determined to find her resting place. She placed a tombstone that marked the author's grave with the message “A Genius of the South.” She led the scholarly effort to revive Hurston's work and bring it into the mainstream. Today, Hurston is recognized as the first in a line of great female black authors, that includes other authors like Alice Grant, Toni Morrison, and Gloria Naylor.