Fact Finder - History

Zora Neale Hurston was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker who played a central role in the Harlem Renaissance. She is best known for her 1937 novel, 'Their Eyes Were Watching God,' which explored Black female identity and liberation. Hurston was a trained anthropologist under Franz Boas, conducting extensive fieldwork in the American South and the Caribbean to document Black folklore and Voodoo practices. Unlike many of her contemporaries who focused on the 'tragedy' of the Black experience, Hurston celebrated the richness and humor of Black rural culture. Her work fell into obscurity during the later years of her life, and she died in poverty. However, her legacy was revived in the 1970s by writers like Alice Walker, and she is now recognized as one of the most important writers of the 20th century for her mastery of dialect and her deep cultural insights.