Impact Of Zora Neale Hurston's Influence On Florida?

Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama on January 7, 1891. Her father, John Hurston, was a minister and he had several years as a mayor for that town. Her mother, Lucy Hurston, seemed to only have her family as any worries. Her childhood seemed to be perfect, it was free from racism and poverty (Zora 1). Although, everything changed when her mother passed away and his father remarried and soon was sent to boarding school. She was then expelled a while after her father stopped paying for tuition so she worked in a theatrical company as a maid (Zora 1). Quitting that job, at

Setting her independence, Hurston at the age of 14 left her residence to work as a maid of a traveling Gilbert and Sullivan theatrical troupe. Given the opportunity Hurston was sent to Morgan Academy in Baltimore, Maryland by one of her employers. Finishing up her high school studies in Morgan Academy and graduating on June 1918, Hurston studied part-time at Howard University in the same year. While Hurston studied in college she decided to support herself as “a manicurist, a waitress, and a maid in order to support herself” (D. Kaplan 2). Hurston’s talent towards literature started to emerge while studying at Howard. She made such an impact in her first short story titled, “John Redding Goes to Sea" in 1921, that it was included in the university’s literary magazine named “Stylus”. Sociologist Charles S. Johnson, immediately caught the attention of such excellent work who also encouraged Hurston to move to New York City in the year of 1925 (Bomarito 89). Beside Johnson mentoring her to go to New York he also inspired her to enter the literary contest of his magazine entitled “Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life.”

     In the fall of 1919, Zora Neale Hurston became a freshman at Howard University. Hurston studied intermittently at Howard for the next five years; the institution she would proudly call “The capstone of the Negro education in the world.” Hurston enjoyed college life even though she was a decade older than other freshmen. With

First, The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s. The purpose of the Harlem Renaissance was that it created a new black cultural identity (Beth Rowen and Borgna Bower 2007).Next, this era was a time for people to find their identity in music, writing, plays, and much more.This was also a way for African - Americans to find their identity as individuals. This is where the African - American authors came to get their names known. The purpose of the Harlem Renaissance was to help the African- American culture find their identity as an individual instead of being labeled by other people’s opinions ( Rowen and Borgna , 2007 ). Because of all of the opportunities that Harlem presented, Zora Neale Hurston was able to leave a legacy during this era . Between 1920 and 1930: 750, 000 African- Americans migrated from the South to the North because of all the job opportunities and

Zora Neale Hurston contributed to the Harlem Renaissance by writing several works of literature, contributing to the acceptance of African Americans, and by helping to preserve folklore and African American culture. Hurston contributed to the Harlem Renaissance by writing several works of literature. Her literature presented a writing style that wasn't usually used during this time.her writing also showed African American culture as well as lifestyle. Zora Neale Hurston contributed to the acceptance of African Americans. Hurston did this by making her work reachable to white Americans in the forms of plays and novels. Last but not least Zora Neale Hurston contributed to the preservation of folklore and African American culture. Zora Neale Hurston helped preserve folklore and African American by collecting the information on it during her expeditions to the south, Bahamas,Haiti, Jamaica, and other

Some time passed, she turned up in Baltimore where she lied about her age to finish high school. After which she enrolled in Howard University in 1920 where earned an associate’s degree. She then transferred to Barnard College and after graduating in 1928, she started coursework for a PHD in Anthropology at Columbia University. Some years later, she moved to Harlem deep in the middle of the Harlem Renaissance, where she became a fixture in its thriving art scene along with friends, Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen who she was known to be acquainted with. She wrote several short stories and plays, such as “Mules and Men”, “The Great Day”, “From Sun to Sun” and “Mule Bone”. She also a few novels, two highly regarded works of anthropology and an autobiography titled, “Dust Tracks on a Road”, which has had some controversy on whether some parts of her life’s story in truly accurate. One example would be that she claimed to have written “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, in seven weeks “under internal pressure” while on a Guggenheim fellowship to Haiti to study the folklore. Hurston struggled through the last years of her life, as she continued to write but

Hughes graduated from high school in 1920 and went to Mexico to visit his father. Hughes wrote poetry and submitted his work to magazines multiple times, although they were never chosen until one day, in 1920, The Negro Speaks of Rivers was published and highly praised in a magazine called "The Crisis." In 1921, Hughes returned to the United States and briefly attended Columbia University. He dropped out in 1922, but at his time there he became part of Harlem's burgeoning cultural movement. He

Along with others, she demanded equal rights for African American culture in history (Bio.com). Hurston brought joy to the Harlem streets through her writings and folklore. She cared about the cause and wanted people to enjoy what happiness they had left. Hurston infrequently portrayed blacks as victims of white society. She represented them as self-determined beings who are proud of their culture. This demonstrated that Hurston wanted people to see the best in others. She wanted others to know that the downfalls of their lives do not define who they are. Hurston also tried to stand up to white supremacy. The editors then silenced her work, making her voice vanish from the community. Her work was later rediscovered after her death in the 1960’s and ‘70s (Zora Neale Hurston: A Female Perspective). Hurston wanted to speak out against the cultural norms and break the guidelines; she wanted to make a difference. Hurston wanted to stop the way whites treated African Americans. She wanted to help them find peace and equality through her

Many writers allow their personal experiences to influence their writing, but Zora Neale Hurston used her life to influence others. Hurston took her personal experience and used it to show impoverished black youth that they can be successful. The way she was raised influenced her and created a woman who would pave the way for feminists to be recognized as a respectable group. Hurston had a way with words that still, to this day, have an affect on youth and will affect future generations.. Her childhood and her introduction to average American society developed Hurston into a preacher of equal rights, a teacher of confidence, and a writer ahead of her time.

Although Zora Neale Hurston and Jamaica Kincaid lived in different times, thematically their writing had similar themes. If they had been contemporaries, they most certainly would have discussed their common experiences as black women who faced financial challenges and the racial divide that they experienced in their daily lives. Without a doubt, their writing was personally cathartic. Although in Kincaid’s writing, she addresses her issues with her mother head on, I have no doubt that Hurston’s stories were also influenced by her early family life.

Zora Neale Hurston was born and raised in Eatonville, Florida which was the first all-black town in the United States to be incorporated and self-governed. Due to Hurston growing up in an all-black community, she was protected from racism. She states that the only white people she knew were the ones passing through the town going to or coming from Orlando. When she moved from the town of Eatonville to Jacksonville, she was introduced to a different lifestyle where she was

Both Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes were great writers but their attitudes towards their personal experience as an African American differed in many ways. These differences can be attributed to various reasons that range from gender to life experience but even though they had different perceptions regarding the African American experience, they both shared one common goal, racial equality through art. To accurately delve into the minds of the writers’ one must first consider authors background such as their childhood experience, education, as well their early adulthood to truly understand how it affected their writing in terms the similarities and

Zora Neale Hurston was so proud to be from the black community that she mentioned it in her writings; she even changed it to her birthplace. Eatonville, Florida, had a massive impact on Zora’s life. It shaped her life and writing style. Hurston explains: "Anyway, the force from somewhere in Space which commands you to write in the first place, gives you no choice. You take up the pen when you are told, and write what is commanded. There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you."

Zora Neale Hurston was an African-American folklorist, novelist and anthropologist. She was born in 1891 and lived in the first all-black town in the United States, Eatonville, Florida. Her 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God and played a vital role in the literacy movement the Harlem Renaissance is what she is best known for. Zora Neale Hurston depicts racism in her writings and has contributed greatly to African-American literature. Her work became more popular posthumously.

Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7, 1891 in Alabama. She is known to be one of the most influential novelist of the twentieth century in African America literature. Hurston is described to be a very opinionated woman that stood for what she believed in; which reflected in some of her works. In addition to her many titles such as, being an anthropologist and short story writer, she was closely related and heavily focused on the Harlem Renaissance. Zora Neale Hurston and her political opinions placed her at odds with important figures during that time which I wholeheartedly believe played a part in the undeniable attraction that most people have towards her works. Being that Hurston was such a unique writer, to understand the ethics and themes of her and how she contributed to African American literature comes with an understanding of the background and childhood she had.