Zora Neale Hurston is best known as an American folklorist who celebrated the African American culture of the rural South. During Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency, the Works Progress Administration was launched to provide funding for researchers, writers, and editors. Hurston benefitted from this program by traveling through Florida, completing interviews, and writing about growing up in the state. Her most famous books include Their Eyes Were Watching God published in 1937, and an autobiography titled Dust Tracks on a Road which she completed in St. Augustine and published in 1942. Born in 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama, Zora and her family soon moved to Eatonville, Florida, a rural community near Orlando known as the first incorporated Black township. Cast out of her family home as a teenager, she fought to get an education and became a recognized artist of the Harlem Renaissance movement. She made her way to St. Augustine, where she met Pulitzer Prize-winner Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in 1940. Their relationship was controversial for the time, conflicting with rigid social norms, deeply ingrained prejudice, and Jim Crow laws which were harshly enforced by the state. Despite all of that, Rawlings invited Hurston to be a guest speaker at the all-Black Florida Normal School. She was so impressed with Hurston that she invited her to tea at her husband’s white-only hotel the next day. Rawlings arranged for a bellboy to move Hurston to a private apartment to keep her safe from guests who could have endangered her. They mutually enjoyed each other’s company and Rawlings referred to Hurston as a sister. Rawlings stated their friendship forced her to confront and question her own internal prejudices which lead her to fight against racial segregation and injustice. During her time in St. Augustine, Hurston married at the St. Johns County Courthouse and taught courses at the Florida Normal and Industrial Institute. She also rented a home at 791 West King Street where she completed her autobiography. In 2003, St. Johns County and the Florida Department of State recognized the home as a Historic Landmark. In 2016 the St. Augustine City Commission named the park on the corner of Ponce de Leon Boulevard and King Street in her honor, complete with a sign documenting her legacy and association with the city. On November 3rd at 6:30 PM, the St. Johns Cultural Council and the St. Johns County Public Library are hosting a virtual book club via Zoom to discuss Crossing the Creek: The Literary Friendship of Zora Neale Hurston & Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings by Anna Lillios. Click HERE to learn more and register. |
Author Zora Neale Hurston
