HURSTON, ZORA NEALE

born Jan. 7, 1903, Eatonville, Fla., U.S. died Jan. 28, 1960, Fort Pierce, Fla. Zora Neale Hurston. American folklorist and writer associated with the Harlem Renaissance who celebrated African American culture of the rural South. Until the age of 13, Hurston attended schools in her native Eatonville, Florida, the first incorporated all-black city in the nation. At age 16, Hurston joined a traveling theatrical company, ending up in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance. She attended Howard University from 1921 to 1924 and in 1925 won a scholarship to Barnard College, where she studied anthropology under Franz Boas. She graduated from Barnard in 1928 and for two years pursued graduate studies in anthropology at Columbia University. She also conducted field studies in folklore among African Americans in the South. For a short time she was an amanuensis to novelist Fannie Hurst. In 1930 Hurston collaborated with Langston Hughes on a play (never finished) titled Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life in Three Acts (published posthumously 1991). In 1934 she published her first novel, Jonah's Gourd Vine, which was well received by critics for its portrayal of African American life uncluttered by stock figures or sentimentality. Mules and Men, a study of folkways among the African American population of Florida, followed in 1935. Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), a novel, Tell My Horse (1938), a blend of travel writing and anthropology based on her investigations of voodoo in Haiti, and Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939), a novel, firmly established her as a major author. For a number of years Hurston was on the faculty of North Carolina College for Negroes (now North Carolina Central University) in Durham. She also wrote for Warner Brothers motion-picture studio and was on the staff of the Library of Congress. Dust Tracks on a Road (1942), an autobiography, is highly regarded. Her last book, Seraph on the Suwanee, a novel, appeared in 1948. Despite her early promise, by the time of her death Hurston was little remembered by the general reading public, but there was a resurgence of interest in her work in the late 20th century. Additional reading Biographical and critical works include Robert E. Hemenway, Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography (1977, reissued 1986); Lillie P. Howard, Zora Neale Hurston (1980); Karla F.C. Holloway, The Character of the Word: The Texts of Zora Neale Hurston (1987); Michael Awkward (ed.), New Essays on Their Eyes Were Watching God (1990); Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and K.A. Appiah (eds.), Zora Neale Hurston: Critical Perspectives Past and Present (1993); John Lowe, Jump at the Sun: Zora Neale Hurston's Cosmic Comedy (1994); and Deborah G. Plant, Every Tub Must Sit on Its Own Bottom: The Philosophy and Politics of Zora Neale Hurston (1995). Zora Neale Hurston. Brown Brothers Hurt, Mississippi John born July 3, 1893, Teoc, Miss., U.S. died Nov. 2, 1966, Grenada, Miss. original name John Smith Hurt American country-blues singer and guitarist who first recorded in the late 1920s but whose greatest fame and influence came when he was rediscovered in the early 1960s at the height of the American folk music revival. While growing up in the small town of Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself to play the guitar and, after leaving school at age 10, performed at local gatherings. Representatives of the Okeh division of Columbia Records discovered Hurt and persuaded him to travel to Memphis, Tennessee, and then later to New York City, to record. The records that resulted from those sessions caused little stir, and Hurt soon returned to Avalon, where he worked as a farmer and labourer, raising a family of 14 children. All the while he continued to perform, perfecting the distinctive three-finger guitar-picking and relaxed singing style that prompted musical archivist Tom Hoskins to go in search of him in 1963. Rediscovered, Hurt became a favourite on the coffeehouse and college folk circuit for the next three years, performing at Carnegie Hall and the Newport (Rhode Island) Folk Festival and recording several albums (including some 90 songs for the Library of Congress) before he died in 1966. In addition to popularizing blues standards like C.C. Rider, he wrote and performed his own songs.