The quotation on her tombstone, "A Genius of the South" is an understatement.
Zora Neale Hurston is more than a genius. She is an inspiration to all kinds of.
people, but primarily African Americans.
.
She was born on 7 January 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama, but soon after, she .
moved to Eatonville, Florida. Many people think that this was her place of birth, but it is .
not. Most of her ideas for her writings come from her struggles while living in Eatonville. .
(Dickenson) .
.
Hurston's mother, Lucy Hurston, died in 1904, and she took a dislike to her .
stepmother. As a result, she left home and joined a traveling theatre company. This was the .
beginning of Hurston's education and future writing career. (Dickenson).
After leaving home, Hurston ended up at Morgan Academy where she finished .
high school. In 1920, she enrolled in Howard University. After about a year, Hurston's .
first piece of work was published. In 1921, Howard University's literary magazine .
published one of her stories. She received more recognition later when another story .
appeared in the New York Magazine Opportunity. Hurston won second place in the .
Opportunity contest and, after lots of encouragement, moved to New York. (Dickenson).
One of Hurston's earliest pieces of works was the play Mule Bone which she "wrote with .
.
Langston Hughes." (Dickenson) The two disagreed over ownership though and charged .
.
one another with plagiarism. (Byrd) In 1934, Hurston published Jonah's Gourd Vine, .
her first novel, which was based on two people who were like her parents. In 1935, she .
published a book of collected tales entitled Mules and Men. In 1937, the most powerful .
novel Hurston has ever written, Their Eyes Were Watching God was published. .
(Dickenson) It is now one of the most widely studied novels in American Literature, though .
at the time of its publication it received little recognition.