Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Hurston may have claimed to be born in Eatonville, Florida in 1901, but it's not true! She was actually born in Notasulga, Alabama…in 1891. Of course, she did move to Eatonville eventually when she was ten years old. (Source)
John Hurston, Zora's father, was a preacher and a carpenter. He was also elected as mayor of Eatonville several times. (Source)
Hurston herself was in a less-than-perfect marriage. In 1927 she married Herbert Sheen, but their union only lasted 4 months. Hmm…sound familiar? (Source)
Did you know that Hurston was the first African American to academically chronicle African American voodoo and folklore? Yeah, we didn't either. She studied anthropology under Franz Boas at Barnard College in the 1920s. She was also the first black graduate from the college—pretty awesome, right? (Source)
At the wee age of fourteen, Hurston joined a traveling theatre company as a maid and wardrobe girl. Sounds a lot more exciting than hanging out at the mall. (Source)
In 1928 Hurston published the novel Seraph on the Suwannee, her only book in which the characters are white and not African American. (Source)