Zora Neale Hurston

Born on January 7, 1891, Zora Neale Hurston was an American writer, folklorist, and anthropologist whose work helped define the Harlem Renaissance. She is especially remembered for Their Eyes Were Watching God, along with books such as Mules and Men and Moses, Man of the Mountain.

Hurston drew deeply on Black Southern speech, storytelling, and everyday life, and she also studied folklore and culture through formal anthropological training. That mix of artistic voice and fieldwork gave her writing a vivid sense of place and made her one of the most distinctive literary figures of the 20th century.

Although her work was not always fully recognized during her lifetime, her reputation grew strongly after her death on January 28, 1960. Today she is widely read as both a brilliant novelist and an important preserver of African American folklore and cultural history.