Born on January 7, 1891 in Eatonville, Florida, and all-black town, Zora Neale Hurston grew up with a sense of black people and culture that was markedly different than the depictions American society sought to paint of the typical black American.1 Contrary to the dominant social narrative of black Americans as uncivilized, Hurston's upbringing around self-determined black people (her father worked as both the town mayor and minister in a local church) inspired in her a passion to reflect the humanity of black Americans in both her writing as well as in her scientific research.
Though born and raised in Eatonville, after the death of her mother, Hurston landed in Baltimore where she finished high school at Morgan Academy in 1918. From there, she went on to study at Howard University in Washington, D.C. until 1924.2 While still in school, Hurston began to publish her stories. In her stories, such as "Spunk" that appears in Locke's anthology The New Negro, she presented an all-black world characterized by tragedy, mischief, humor and courage, all of which were absent from America's dominant conception of black Americans. Most importantly, her stories represented black Americans as people. When "Spunk" received an Opportunity award in 1925, Hurston moved to New York City to explore what further opportunity a career in writing might afford her. 3
While in New York, she enrolled in Barnard College and began studying anthropology on a scholarship 1925 to 1927.4 While writing in New York she met fellow writers Langston Hughes and Wallace Thurman who would soon become close friends. They worked later to established a magazine called Fire which was completely free from the white patronage they found often limited the type of writing they were at liberty to produce. For more information on cultural findings, click here.
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