Zora Neale
Hurston Biography
In 1918, Zora graduated from high
school at Morgan Academy in Eatonville, Florida. The following summer, she worked as a waitress
in a nightclub and a manicurist in a barbershop. She then attended Howard Prep School in
Washington D.C. and received a two year Associates degree in 1920. She spent much of her time writing for
newspapers, contests, and magazines during this period. In 1921, she published her first story, “John
Redding Goes to Sea.” This story was
featured in the Stylus, Howard
University’s literary magazine. In 1924,
Zora published the short story “Drenched in Light” for the magazine Opportunity. Other pieces of literature written by Zora
were the short story, “Spunk,” and the play Color
Struck. She entered these pieces in
a contest and won second place for both the entries. The early twenties were a
perfect starting point for Zora’s writing career.
Through the early to mid -nineteen
hundreds, Zora began to publish more of her work. She traveled to New York and in September 1926,
she published “Muttsy,” “Possum or Pig,” and, “The Eatonville Anthology.” In November she published The First One in Ebony and
Topaz. These months marked a
significant amount of recognition for Zora.
As she continued to publish her
works, she married her boyfriend Herbert Sheen on May 19, 1927. Her relationship with him would only last a
short time. She then traveled from New York to her home town in Eatonville to
collect stories for her writing material.
After she had collected enough material, she returned to New York. Zora continued to progress as she received
sponsorship from patrons in New York. A
year after she was married, her relationship with Sheen diminished. Four years
later, they were divorced.
After the painful breakup with
Sheen, Zora began dating another man by the name of Percival McGuire
Punter. She met him at Columbia
University in New York, which she attended for a little while. She explained her relationship to be “the
real love affair of my life.” Both
Hurston and Punter passionately loved each other. Problems began to arise when Percival asked
Zora to give up her writing career and leave New York to get married. Hurston
had mixed feelings about this idea. She
loved Percival, but she also loved to write.
Punter became angry and hurt when Zora decided that she could not give
up writing. They continued to argue
until in 1936, Zora broke the relationship off to study religion in Haiti. It was during this time that she wrote her
most famous novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Hurston’s writing career began to take off in
the late 1930’s. After her work was done
in Haiti, she returned to the United States to publish her book. “Their Eyes Were Watching God” was written within
just seven weeks. It was published in
1937.
Zora’s writing career began to
plummet when she was wrongly accused of molesting a ten year old boy. The case was dismissed in 1949, but Hurston’s
image was badly scarred. Embarrassed, Zora moved back to Florida where she
began looking for a new job. From 1952
to 1958, Zora went through many career changes.
She worked as a newspaper journalist for the Pittsburg Courier, a librarian for the Patrick Air Force base, and
a teacher at Lincoln Park University. All of these jobs were unsuccessful which
left Zora broke and depressed. In 1959, she suffered a stroke and was forced to
live at the Sgt. Lucie County Welfare Home. She died a year later and was buried in the
Garden of Heavenly Rest in Fort Pierce, Florida.
At this point, Zora had been all but forgotten until a woman
by the name of Alice Walker discovered her grave. Alice eventually discovered many of Zora’s
works including, “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” which she says is the most
important book to her. Alice wrote an
article about her findings and it was published in Ms. Magazine in 1957. This
sparked a Hurston revival that still lasts today.
Works Cited
http://www.gradesaver.com/author/zora-neale-hurston/
http://www.neabigread.org/books/theireyes/theireyes04.php
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