Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7th, 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama to John and Lucy Potts Hurston.  She was the fifth Hurston child and had seven brothers and sisters. She moved with her family to an all black town in Florida called Eatonville. Zora’s parents were both former slaves. Her father became a pastor and served as the mayor for three terms, and her mother died in 1904. John Hurston remarried a woman that was only six years older than Zora named Mattie Moge. She left home to live with her brother and sister in Jacksonville, Florida and was no longer able to get an education because she had to work jobs to support herself. She ended up becoming the maid for the lead singer of the entertaining group Gilbert & Sullivan. She disguised herself in 1917 as a sixteen year old so she would be able to get her high school diploma while living in Baltimore, Maryland. She graduated with her associates degree from Howard University, and graduated with her bachelors degree from Barnard College thanks to a scholarship that she won.