Zora Neale Hurston

Hello there. My name is Zora Neale Hurston, and I'm a storyteller. I was born on January 7th, 1891, in Alabama, but my family soon moved to a very special place that I called my real home: Eatonville, Florida. Eatonville was one of the first towns in America to be run completely by Black people. It was a wonderful place to grow up. My favorite thing to do was sit on the big front porch of the general store. I would listen for hours as the grown-ups told amazing tall tales and funny stories. I listened to every single word, soaking them up like a sponge. Right then and there, I knew that when I grew up, I wanted to share stories just like them.

I loved learning more than just about anything else. I worked hard and went to a big school called Howard University, where I studied and wrote my own stories. After that, in 1925, I made a big move to a neighborhood in New York City called Harlem. It was such an exciting time to be there. Artists, musicians, and writers like me were all gathering in Harlem to create and share wonderful things. This special time was called the Harlem Renaissance, and I was right in the middle of it all. I wrote plays and stories that celebrated the lives of Black people, showing how beautiful and interesting their lives were.

I didn't just make up stories from my imagination; I also collected them from real people. I became something called an anthropologist, which is like being a story detective. I traveled all over the southern United States and to beautiful islands in the Caribbean. My job was to listen to people's songs, jokes, and folktales that had been passed down for many years. I carefully wrote them all down so they would never be forgotten. I used these real voices and amazing tales in my own books. In 1937, I wrote my most famous book, a novel called 'Their Eyes Were Watching God.' It told the story of a strong and brave woman who was learning to find her own voice.

I lived for 69 years, and my life was full of incredible adventures and stories. For a little while after I was gone, some people forgot about my books, and they sat quietly on shelves. But then, a new group of readers and writers discovered my work and fell in love with my words. Today, my stories are read in schools all over the world. People remember me for celebrating the beauty, humor, and strength of Black culture. I helped show that every single person's story is important and deserves to be told.