Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)

I had planned to pen this during women's month as a biography. After reading more about Zora Hurston's life, I felt that a straight bio would do this controversial and intelligent woman an injustice.
I don't know if being 'politically correct' was the buzz word during Ms Hurston's heyday, but politically and culturally correct she was not. I find a woman who went across the grain what was expected not only in American society but in black society as a whole.
Born in Alabama in 1891, Zora Neale Hurston was outspoken and had definite opininons about matters of race, her life, and the positive aspects of black culture. She was a folklorist, novelist, and an anthropologist. Hurston believed that black American should look inward for their spiritual and cultural center. It was in contrast to the 'seeking the government to solve our problems' approach.
Though Hurston was part of the Harlem Renaissance, she was somewhat of an outsider. She was stridently anticommunist and believed that school integration would not benefit black people. This is some of the reasons why she was alienated from other black writers. Looking at it now perhaps Hurston was right.
Though Zora Hurston's most famous book is Their Eyes Were Watching God, she did write a number of other books. Her first novel Jonah's Gourd Vine was published in 1934. Hurston also wrote short stories, plays, essays and articles. She had a pulse on the audiences she wrote to. Hurston you could say marched to the beat of her own drum.
I am always drawn to controversial figures, especially those who may fly under the radar of classical authors. Zora Neale Hurston falls under these terms and yet she had much to say. She had that inner craving to speak her mind. I confess that I have never read any of Hurston's books but having studied would she was, I'm going to purchase everything that I can find. At some future date I will critique a piece of her work. Those who have read Hurston's works, I implore you to look deeper and she if what she was saying in the 1930's resonates with audiences today.