Life of Zora Neal Hurston

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The life of Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston arrived in New York City “with one dollar and fifty cents in her purse, no job, no friends, but filled with a lot of hope.” The hope that she lived her life by came from her mothers words “to jump at the sun”. These words, to Zora, meant that “even if you don’t touch the sun, at least you got off the ground trying”. These words gave Zora the courage and a powerful sense of self that allowed her to meet life head on and without regret. Zora Neale Hurston: The Early Years Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7, 1891 in Eatonville, Florida. She was the fifth child of Lucy and John Hurston and by far the strongest willed. As a child, Zora was inquisitive and direct in the questions she asked of her parents. She wanted to know why things were, and how and what the beginnings and ends were and meant. Zora was an anthropologist even as a child. She loved to sit at the local general store in Eatonville and listen to the adults talk about everything. She listened to everything that was said but what she most enjoyed were the folktales about how the world came to be; why some people were black and others white; about God and the devil; and about animals that spoke the human language. Zora listened to the adults telling these stories and absorbed the emotion and excitement with which they were told. The stories were alive for Zora and she came to love the stories, not only remembering the words, but also the gestures and movements with which the stories were told. As an adult, Zora realized that folklore was a collective expression of a people. Lucy Hurston, Zora’s mother and strongest ally and supporter, died when she was 13 years old. Lucy Hurston instilled the desire of knowledge to all her children, especially Zora. She did not want Zora to grow up to be a “mealy-mouth” rag doll, so she

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