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Zora Neale Hurston

ゾラ・ニール・ハーストン

Zora Neale Hurston

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1891-01-07 （Notasulga, Alabama, U.S.）
Died
1960-01-28 （Fort Pierce, Florida, U.S.） age 69
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Religion
Baptist (raised)
Residence History
Eatonville, Florida (childhood–) → Washington, D.C. (Howard University) → New York City (Barnard College, Harlem) → Westfield, New Jersey (1930s) → Fort Pierce, Florida (later life) → Puerto Cortés, Honduras (1947–1948)

Career

Occupations
Author, Anthropologist, Folklorist, Documentary filmmaker
Active Years
1925-1957
Affiliations
Zeta Phi Beta (sorority), Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASALH), American Folklore Society, Federal Writers' Project (WPA)
Memberships
Zeta Phi Beta (member)
Influenced By
Franz Boas, Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, Alain Locke
Influenced
Alice Walker (helped revive Hurston's work), Scholars of African-American literature and folklore, Contemporary writers and anthropologists (influenced feminist and ethnographic study)

Education

Howard University
Degree: Associate degree
Period: 1918–1920 (夜間学校を含む)
Year of Graduation: 1920
Country: United States
Attended Howard; co-founded the student newspaper The Hilltop.
Barnard College (Columbia University)
Anthropology
Degree: B.A.
Period: 1925–1928
Year of Graduation: 1928
Country: United States
Studied anthropology and worked with Franz Boas.
Columbia University (graduate studies)
Anthropology (graduate study)
Period: 1928–1930頃（大学院研究）
Country: United States
Did graduate-level work with Franz Boas and conducted field research.

Awards

Guggenheim Fellowship
1937
Organization: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
Result: 受賞
Bethune-Cookman College Award for Education and Human Relations
1956
Organization: Bethune-Cookman College
Result: 受賞
National Women's Hall of Fame (induction)
1994
Organization: National Women's Hall of Fame
Result: 殿堂入り
Alabama Writers Hall of Fame
2015
Organization: Alabama Writers Hall of Fame
Result: 殿堂入り

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Jonah's Gourd Vine

1934 Novel

Hurston's first novel, portraying life and religious influences in an African-American community.

ReligionCommunityFamily

Mules and Men

1935 Folklore / Non-fiction

A collection of folktales and songs collected in Florida timber camps, valued as an ethnographic record of oral culture.

FolkloreOral traditionMusic

Their Eyes Were Watching God

1937 Novel 219 pages

The story of Janie, a Black woman's search for identity and love; considered Hurston's masterpiece.

Female selfhoodLoveRace and individuality
Adaptations
  • [Television film] Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005 film) / Darnell Martin (2005)

Tell My Horse

1938 Ethnography / Non-fiction

A blend of fieldwork account and personal narrative on religious rituals and folklore in Jamaica and Haiti.

RitualVodou / HoodooEthnography

Moses, Man of the Mountain

1939 Novel

A novel weaving biblical motifs with African-American folklore.

Religious symbolismFolklore

Dust Tracks on a Road

1942 Autobiography

Hurston's autobiography, including reflections on religion and her career.

MemoirCultural memory

Seraph on the Suwanee

1948 Novel

A novel focusing on white characters, exploring class, gender, and abjection.

ClassGender

Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

2018 Non-fiction / Testimonial

Posthumously published account of interviews with Cudjoe (Kossola) Lewis, a survivor of the Clotilda.

SlaveryTestimonyDocumentation

Bibliography

  • Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934)
  • Mules and Men (1935)
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)
  • Tell My Horse (1938)
  • Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939)
  • Dust Tracks on a Road (1942)
  • Seraph on the Suwanee (1948)
  • Barracoon (2018, posthumous)
  • Every Tongue Got to Confess (2001, posthumous)

Adaptations

  • Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005 television film)
  • Documentary 'Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming A Space' (PBS, 2023)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Ethnographically informed narrationUse of vernacular and dialectical dialogueBlending of fiction and ethnography
Recurring Motifs
Community and placeOral tradition and musicWomen's self-realization

Health

  • Stroke; hypertensive heart disease
    1959–1960（晩年）
    Health decline in late life limited work; died in 1960.

Legacy

Hurston was a pioneer who fused oral tradition with literature and ethnography, a key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Her work was rediscovered posthumously and has had significant influence on African-American literature and ethnographic studies.

Museums

  • Zora Neale Hurston Museum of Fine Arts (Eatonville) Eatonville, Florida
  • Zora Neale Hurston House (National Historic Landmark, Fort Pierce) Fort Pierce, Florida

Academic Societies

  • Barnard College (conferences)
  • African-American literary studies groups

Archives

  • University of Florida (Zora Neale Hurston Papers)
  • Yale University, James Weldon Johnson Collection
  • Library of Congress (recordings and footage)

In Popular Culture

  • ZORA! Festival held in Eatonville
  • Honored with a Google Doodle in 2014
  • Subject of documentaries, plays, and a graphic novel

Quotes

  • I am not interested in the race problem, but I am interested in the problems of individuals.
    Source: Dust Tracks on a Road (autobiography) (1942)
  • Prayer seems to me a cry of weakness, and an attempt to avoid, by trickery, the rules of the game as laid down.
    Source: Dust Tracks on a Road, chapter 'Religion' (1942)

Trivia

  • After her death in 1960 she was buried in an unmarked grave; Alice Walker and others placed a headstone in 1973.
  • She left documentary film footage and recordings from her fieldwork that are valuable ethnographic materials.
  • Several manuscripts were published posthumously (e.g., Every Tongue Got to Confess in 2001; Barracoon in 2018).