This paper will explore the life of Zora Neale Hurston, who was a prominent author, anthropologist, and movie producer, who depicted racial battles in the mid-twentieth-century. Zora was born on January 7th, 1891; she was born in a tiny town in Alabama. Her father was a preacher and carpenter while her mother was a teacher. Zora was the fifth out of eight children. After a year when she was born, her family moved to Eatonville, Florida. At the time it was the first integrated black city in the United States.
In 1904, thirteen-year-old Zora was heartbroken by the passing of her mom. Later that year, her dad expelled her from school and sent her to care for her sibling’s children. An uncontrollable and fretful kid, Zora was anxious to leave the burden of her sibling’s family. She started becoming a member of the traveling theater at sixteen. Consequently, Zora started to work for a white family. She was gifted her first book from the woman whom she worked with. The woman later arranged for her to attend high school. She graduated from Morgan Academy in June 1918.
Later that summer, Zora filled in as a server before registering with Howard Prep School. She later went to Howard University. whom she proudly calls ‘The capstone of the Negro education in the world.’Despite the fact that Zora attended University for about four years, she only graduated with her Associate degree. This might be explained by the way that she invested a large portion of her energy at Howard just writing. She joined competitions in magazines and newspapers to grow her writing styles. During the early 1920s, she started her career as a writer.
Zora began writing short stories which brought the attention of Charles Spurgeon Johnson, the humanist of the Harlem Renaissance. He welcomed her to New York to attempt her destiny as an author. Zora acquired a grant from Ms. Meyer to go to Barnard College. In the fall of 1925, She enrolled; she studied under a different name, Frank Boaz. Zora was Barnard’s first African American student. While at Barnard Hurston met Dr. Franz Boas, an instructor, Boas saw Hurston as an extraordinarily skilled lady with on bizarre foundation. He acquainted Zora with Anthropology. ‘The study of mankind and culture.’ she then graduated In 1928 from Barnard with a Bachelor’s Degree. While she was attending Barnard, Hurston wedded her sweetheart from Howard, Herbert Sheen, however, the marriage was brief. After graduation, Zora came back to the place where she grew up in Eatonville.
