Zora+Neale+Hurston

[|Zora Neale Hurston] was born on January 7, 1891?. She was born in Notasulga, Alabama, but raised in the town of [|Eatonville], Florida. Eatonville was an all African American town and was not a ghetto or a slum. This town inspired her imagination. Zora was the fifth of eight children of John Hurston and Lucy Ann Hurston. Her father was a Baptist preacher, tenant farmer, and carpenter, and her mother was a schoolteacher. However, her mother died in 1904 when Zora was thirteen. This devastating event affected Zora because she was passed around her family by her father.   In childhood, Hurston grew up uneducated and poor, but she was immersed with black folk life. She had little experience with racism early on since the town was all one race. This caused her to have unconventional attitudes later in life which alienated her from others. With her graduation in 1918, she went to Howard University in Washington, D.C. Here she was inspired by the professor of philosophy and authority on black culture [|Alain Locke] and decided to pursue a literary career. Throughout her literary career Zora got much criticism for her failure to address the subject of racism as meted out by the white American society in her portrayals of black society. Zora seemed to view the entire world from the perspective of Eatonville, a place that blacks could be sovereign from all of white society, even the segregation that enveloped it as a southern town. Zora continued to express how she felt and her views. Zora inspired black writers such as Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison and Alice Walker. Like Zora Hurston, they ironically have addressed the issue of prejudice in their books. Zora’s story taught me how to express my beliefs even if nobody stands by it. Thanks to Alicia Walker, the work of Zora Neale Hurston was resurrected in the 1970s. Her legacy will continue in literature classes, women's studies and black studies courses.


 * __Bibliography__**

Boyd, Valerie. "About Zora Neale Hurston." __Zora Neale Hurston.__ 12 Feb. 2009. <[|http://www.zoranealehurston.com/biography.html>.] Gale Group, Inc. "Alain Locke." __africawithin.__ 12 Feb. 2009. .

Sharman, G. K. "Florida's Black History." __Florida's People.__ 12 Feb. 2009. .