Zora Neale Hurston: Triumph Amidst Adversity

Zora Neale Hurston survived many of life’s bumps: failed marriages, professional rollercoasters, sickness, and financial issues (Patterson). Despite the difficulties she faced in life, she became known as one the most influential colored writers in the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston served as an influential figure during the Harlem Renaissance (“Zora Neale Hurston and the Harlem Renaissance”). She was a free-spirited woman who expressed herself without any limitations. Zora Neale Hurston was a well-rounded writer that held contradicting views and controversy; the early stages of her career was great, but slowly it began to plummet all the way to her last days. Zora Neale Hurston was a writer, folklorist, and an anthropologist (“Zora Neale Hurston, Pre-Eminent”). Hurston was born on the date of January 15, 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama. She was the fifth of eight children (“Project Mosaic Reflections”). While in her memoir known as Dust Tracks on a Road, she claimed that she was born in Eatonville, Florida (Lillios). However, it was a year after Hurston’s birth, that her father John Hurston moved to Eatonville, Florida, and became a minister (“Chronology of Hurston’s

(Wormser). New York was booming with creative black artists (also known as The Harlem Renaissance), Hurston was often associated with the movement, and she herself became an influential role through her creative works (duCille). Starting in 1920s through the mid 1930s, it was more than a literary movement or countering stereotypes and racism (“Harlem Renaissance”). The period brought out the unique culture of African Americans, and encouraged them celebrate their heritage.(“Harlem Renaissance”). One of the main factors about how the Harlem Renaissance started was the migration of African American to Northern cities. It drawn in black writers, artists, poets, musicians, and etc.