Knowra Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston was an American writer, anthropologist, and folklorist whose novels, essays, and fieldwork documented Black life and folklore, especially in the American South and Caribbean.
Their Eyes Were Watching God : A 1937 novel by Zora Neale Hurston about Janie Crawford’s search for love, autonomy, and self-understanding. Her best-known novel turns Black Southern speech and a woman’s self-determination into literary form.
Jonah's Gourd Vine : A 1934 novel by Zora Neale Hurston about the rise and fall of a Black preacher in the rural South. Her first novel draws on Southern Black speech and her knowledge of community life.
Franz Boas : A German-born American anthropologist who challenged racial hierarchies and helped establish modern cultural anthropology. As Hurston’s mentor at Barnard, Boas trained her in anthropology and supported her fieldwork.
Alice Walker : An American novelist, poet, and activist whose writing includes the novel The Color Purple. Walker’s 1975 essay helped renew attention to Hurston and her neglected grave.
Mules and Men : A 1935 collection of African American folklore gathered by Zora Neale Hurston in the American South. This fieldwork-based book shows how Hurston recorded stories, songs, and speech within Black communities.
Tell My Horse : A 1938 book by Zora Neale Hurston about Jamaican and Haitian religion, folklore, and cultural practices. It extends her ethnographic work beyond the American South to the Caribbean.
Alain Locke : An American philosopher, educator, and literary editor associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Locke and Hurston were part of overlapping Harlem literary circles, despite differences in cultural outlook.
Robert Hemenway : An American literary scholar and biographer of Zora Neale Hurston. His 1977 biography contributed to the revival of scholarly interest in Hurston’s life and writing.
African-American folklore : Oral traditions, stories, songs, beliefs, and practices developed and shared within African American communities. Folklore supplied both the subject and the expressive resources of her fiction and fieldwork.
Dust Tracks on a Road : Zora Neale Hurston’s 1942 autobiography, recounting her life and reflections on race, identity, and work. Her memoir offers her own account of the experiences behind her public career.
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