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Zora Neale Hurston: The Most Colorful Figure Of The Harlem Renaissance

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Hurston: The Most Colorful Figure of the Harlem Renaissance Zora Neale Hurston was an American author during the time period of the Harlem Renaissance. Hurston exhibits her historical and realistic writing style through all of her work. Despite the sometimes harsh stories of discrimination, her regionalist folklore fiction writing remains faithful. Hurston’s writing portrays racism, suffering, struggle and fear. She explains the social lives and customs through her personal experiences making her work autobiographical through nature. Some of Hurston’s most famous pieces are her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God and one of her short stories “Dust Tracks on a Road.” Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama in 1891 to a carpenter and Baptist preacher, and a former school teacher. Her …show more content…

Her thirteen-year-old self, struggled with this phenomenon leading her to write out her feelings. School was hard for her and at the age of 26, she still was not finished with high school. She decided to legally change her age so she could continue to afford public schooling. The now ten years younger Hurston is left with her only desire in life: writing. Her fiery intellect led her to walk her way into the Harlem Renaissance and befriend luminaries such as Langston Hughes and Ethel Waters. By 1935, Hurston had published several short stories and articles, including a novel of her autobiography. Hurston soon became one of the most influential writers and leaders in the renaissance.

Walsh 2 The story “Dust Tracks on a Road” is Huston’s poignant autobiography of her rise from childhood poverty in the rural south.

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