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Zora Neale Hurston Birth
Zora Neale Hurston is born in Notasulga, Alabama. She is the fifth of eight children born to John and Lucy Potts Hurston. -
Hurston Visits Harlem
Hurston travels to Harlem to conduct field research for Boas on black life. She meets several other young black artists, including Langston Hughes. Several of Hurston's short stories are published during this time. She and Hughes also launch the short-lived but influential black literary journal Fire!! -
Zora Neale Hurston "Their Eyes were Watching God"
Hurston's greatest novel is thought to be Their Eyes Were Watching God, and 1937 brought the publication of this fantastic novel. This novel was written after she had an affair with a younger man, and it only took her seven weeks to complete it. -
Death of Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston dies of hypertensive heart disease at the St. Lucie County Welfare Home. Penniless and alone at the time of her death, her neighbors take up a collection to pay for her funeral. She is buried in an unmarked grave. Only because she could not afford to bury herself. Hurston did not gain the revenue that her work deserved -
Rediscovery by Alice Walker
Intrigued by Hurston's life story, the writer Alice Walker locates the site of her grave and purchases a headstone for it. The inscription reads "Zora Neale Hurston: A Genius of the South."
