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

Life”). In 1904, she lost her mother at age 13. She seemed to have a close relationship with her mother, as she quoted her mother encouraging her to be fearless, “Jump at de sun. ‘We might not land on the sun, but at least we could get off the ground.” Hurston was deeply affected by the loss and she was left to complete her education without resources (“Project Mosaic Reflections”; Patterson). At the same time of her mother’s passing, her father placed her out of school to take care of her brother’s children. At the age of sixteen, she completed high school at Morgan Academy in Baltimore. In her university education, she began writing for various magazines; the editor of Opportunity, a Negro journal, encouraged her to move to New York. (“Project Mosaic Reflections”). Hurston traveled throughout the Caribbean, and collected information about folklore in Jamaica, Haiti, and Honduras. In 1927, she married Herbert Sheen, later in the years they both separated. Then in 1939, she married Albert Price, soon followed by separation. Her life went through turmoil of up and down; later in the years of her life she experienced health issues and she died without a penny, also forgotten in the literary world (“Zora Neale Hurston, Pre-Eminent”). Though her life has ups and mainly downs towards the end, she was still an accomplished writer during the Harlem Renaissance.
The Harlem Renaissance (1917-1935) was a cultural, social, and artistic storm that happened in Harlem, New York.

(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.

(Wormser).
During the Harlem Renaissance, she created works that were widely read by many, and she also had close who were writers too. As a writer in The Harlem Renaissance, Hurston was recognized for her distinguishing way of relaying her thoughts and feelings along with her symbolic language, and her interest with celebrating Southern Black Culture (“Zora Neale Hurston and the Harlem Renaissance”; “Zora Neale Hurston, Pre-Eminent”). She was friends with Langston Hughes, he would describe Hurston as an “Outrageous woman.” However, both eventually went their separate ways after a disagreement over their play Mule Bone (“Project Mosaic Reflections”). She was one the individuals who shaped the black literary and cultural drive. She received many criticism from other writers during the Harlem Renaissance. Langston Hughes provided harsh criticism towards Hurston’s career life (“Zora Neale Hurston”).