Zora Neale Hurston was born this month (January 7th). She was an African American writer whose most famous work was Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Her work is known for depicting the African American diaspora and the struggles of being an African American woman.
“If writers were too wise, perhaps no books would get written at all. It might be better to ask yourself ‘Why?’ afterward than before … There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.”
Originally from Alabama, her family then moved to Florida, where many of her stories would take place. Eatonville, the town she moved to, has become the location of Zora! Festival, a place to celebrate Hurston.
In 1956, Hurston received the Bethune-Cookman College Award for Education and Human Relations for all of her accomplishments in literature. Her last work was published in 2018 posthumously and was called Barracoon.
“I have the nerve to walk my own way, however hard, in my search for reality, rather than climb upon the rattling wagon of wishful illusions.”