Zora Neale Hurston Influences

"I have the nerve to walk my own way, however hard, in my search for reality, rather than climb upon the rattling wagon of wishful illusions,” (Boyd). This quote was written by well-known author and short-story writer, Zora Neale Hurston in a letter to Countee Cullen. By these words, she claims to have the right to live her life in fullest potential and be true to herself and beliefs. Hurston is a notorious writer, novelist and playwright who is known for her four novels, 50 short stories, plays and essays (Zora Neale Hurston). Author Hurston also plays an important role for the Harlem Renaissance. She is considered a significant individual of twentieth-century African American literature. Hurston derived from poverty to prominence and was influential towards many. Despite Zora Neale Hurston’s unsettled life, she managed to overcome every obstacle to become one of the most profound authors of her time. Despite that she would later descend into stigma because of her resistant views on civil rights, her passionate writing which eulogize southern black culture has impacted generations of African American literary physiques. Hurston’s work also had an influence on later black American authors such as Toni Morrison, Ralph Ellison and Alice Walker. Zora Neale

Hurston was a strong and prestigious woman because of her early life, education, literary pieces, and later life.
In Hurston’s early years, her childhood had been a mystery.

While the majority of biographical expositions list the year of her birth as 1901 and in a 1993 biography film they list her birth day as 1891. Hurston was the daughter of two former slaves. Her father was John Hurston; he was a pastor, and he moved the family to Florida when Hurston was very young. Her mother died when Hurston was 13, and her father, John, busy traveling as a preacher and sent Zora to a Jacksonville boarding school, where she often worked as a janitor in place of the tuition money that he didn’t always remember to send. A brief return home ended when Zora nearly killed her father’s young second wife in a domestic dispute

(McWhorter).
Zora Hurston became very educated during her years of schooling, with her many years of experience. At the age of twenty-six, she enrolls at the high school division of Morgan College. Although it is believed that she was twenty-six years old at the time of enrollment, she listed her age as sixteen and 1901 as her birthday. Hurston graduated from Morgan Academy, the high school division of Morgan College, in 1918. Later that year, she began her undergraduate studies at Howard University. While at Howard, Hurston became one of the earliest initiates of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority and co-founded The Hilltop, the University's student newspaper(Zora Neale Hurston Hurston left Howard in 1924, unable to support herself. Hurston was offered a scholarship to Barnard College where she received her Bachelor Degree in anthropology in 1927. While she was at Barnard, she conducted ethnographic research under her advisor, the noted anthropologist Franz Boas of Columbia University. She also worked with Ruth Benedict as well as fellow anthropology student Margaret Mead. Upon reaching adulthood, Hurston was working as a cleaner/ domestic for families.
Out of all of Zora Neale Hurston’s writings, her most famous novel published was, “Their Eyes Were Watching God”. Hurston had written four novels, 50 short stories,

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