Zora Neale Hurston became the most significant and most successful black writer of the first half of the 20th century. She made it by using her own talent, ability to produce an utterly unforgettable impression, bright intellect, powerful nature, infectious sense of humor, and the gift of “entering the heart” (Boyd). Hurston has published two folklore books, four novels, an autobiography, several essays, articles, and many short stories during her career (Boyd). Several factors influenced Zora to write, including a childhood filled with examples of black culture, a mother’s upbringing, a love of anthropology, a desire to promote and explore black culture, and the Harlem Renaissance. One of her most renowned works is Their Eyes Looked at God. Herston focused her book on the life of a black woman thereby she broke literary principles.
In Eatonville, the city of her childhood, Herston was at no time taught that she was inferior, and could see witnesses of black achievements everywhere. She could look up to the town hall and see black men, including her father John Hurston, formulating the laws that governed Eatonville (Boyd). Zora was able to look into the Sunday schools of two city churches and see black women, including her mother, Lucy Potts Hurston, leading Christian curricula (Boyd). She could look at the front porch of the village shop and see black men and women, through whose mouths whole worlds floated in the form of colorful, captivating stories (Boyd). Growing up in this culturally affirming place that undoubtedly influenced her writing, Hurston had a relatively happy childhood. Her mother urged young Zora and her seven brothers and sisters to jump in the sun. She said that perhaps they would not land in the sun, but at least they would get off the ground (Boyd). Thus, she formed in Zora a bright intellect, a decisive nature, and a desire to go her way, no matter how many difficulties it brought.
When Hurston’s idyllic childhood suddenly ended with her mother’s death, her wanderings began, connected with an attraction to anthropology, not so much in geography and time, but in spirit, which also influenced her to write. She studied at Howard University from 1921 to 1924 and won a scholarship to Barnard College in 1925, where she attended anthropology under Franz Boas (“Zora Neale Hurston”). Zora had to pretend to be younger than she was to get a free education at this college. To do it, she lopped ten years of her life so that she was 16 years old, and her year of birth was 1901 (Boyd). Zora graduated from Barnard in 1928 and studied for two years at Columbia University (“Zora Neale Hurston”). As a result, she was both a writer and a researcher and often included her works in books.
Throughout her life, Herston was also motivated to write with a desire to promote and study black culture. She traveled to Haiti and Jamaica to explore the religions of the African diaspora (Norwood). Zora also conducted field research on folklore among African Americans in the South (Norwood). Her travels were financed by the folklorist Charlotte Mason, who was Herston’s patroness. In 1935, she published Mules and Men, which featured her as an eminent folklorist and anthropologist who recorded cultural history (“Zora Neale Hurston”). Its results were also published in newspapers everywhere in the United States.
The Harlem Renaissance, which developed the Harlem area of New York as a cultural Mecca for blacks in the early 20th century and followed by a social and artistic explosion, also influenced Zora’s writing. This period lasted from roughly the 1910s to the mid-1930s and is considered the golden age of African American culture (“Zora Neale Hurston Biography”). It manifested ie literature, music, and various performing arts. Hurston has become an integral part of New York’s Harlem Renaissance through her novels, such as Their Eyes Were Watching God, and shorter fictions such as Sweat (“Zora Neale Hurston Biography”). Simultaneously, her apartment has become part of the thriving art scene of the area and a popular place for social gatherings (“Zora Neale Hurston Biography”). Zora befriended people like Langston Hughes and County Cullen, with whom she founded the literary magazine.
To summarize, Zora Neal Hurston was an outstanding author and scholar, influenced to write by several factors. First, the reason for it was a happy childhood, filled with evidence of black achievements all around her. Second, the foundation for it was her mother’s influence, who brought up her views. Owing to it, Zora went her own way, no matter how difficult it was, in her search for reality. Thereby, Hurston was able to win a stipend to Barnard College, where she explored anthropology. Later, her love for it and, in particular, her ethnographic studies of black culture, made her a pioneer in writing folk fiction about the black South. Finally, the Harlem Renaissance, which was the cultural Mecca of blacks in the early 20th century, is also influenced her to write. It happened through social gatherings and acquaintances with people like Langston Hughes and County Cullen, with whom she launched a literary magazine.
Works Cited
“Zora Neale Hurston Biography”. The Biography, A&E Television Networks, 2014, Web.
“Zora Neale Hurston”. Encyclopedia Britannica, Web.
Boyd, Valerie. “About Zora Neale Hurston”. The Official Website of Zora Neale Hurston, Web.
Norwood, ArlAlisha Zora Neale Hurston”. National Womens History Museum, 2017, Web.