Mules and Men

Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama in 1891 to two working class parents. Her family relocated to Eatonville, Florida when Hurston was very young. The first decade of her life is largely a mystery, as she intentionally lied to her biographer and others throughout her life, claiming to be born in 1901 instead. What is known about her childhood is that she and her stepmother engaged in a tumultuous relationship after Hurston’s mother died. During her life, Hurston published four novels, several nonfiction works, and many short stories, essays, and articles. She was part of the Harlem Renaissance movement, an artistic and literary movement that aimed to celebrate Black perspectives. She attended Howard University, Barnard College, and Columbia University and won two Guggenheim Fellowship grants for her research in Jamaica and Haiti. She died at the age of 69 in 1960 in a welfare home in Florida and was buried in an unmarked grave until fellow author Alice Walker rediscovered her grave in 1973. Posthumously, she is recognized for her major contributions to modern literature, namely in regards to Black American and feminist literature.

Hurston’s work was highly influenced by the complex sociopolitical changes that transpired from her birth through World War II.