Title: How Alice Walker Rediscovered Zora Neale Hurston
Headings: How Alice Walker Rediscovered Zora Neale Hurston
How Alice Walker Rediscovered Zora Neale Hurston
Making her mark in the Harlem Renaissance
In search of Zora Neale Hurston
The influence of Eatonville
Searching for Zora’s grave
Ripe for rediscovery
Further reading and sources

Content: In 1937, what would become her best-known novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, was published. Though it was controversial in its time, later generations of readers, especially women, would find its message empowering. Although the Harlem Renaissance embraced and promoted Black artists and writers, bringing fame to many who participated in it, Zora’s reputation had completely declined by the time of her death in 1960. . . . . . . . . . . . Alice Walker
. . . . . . . . . . . In search of Zora Neale Hurston
It was a few years after Zora’s death that Walker read Their Eyes Were Watching God, which set her on the path of researching Zora Neale Hurston’s life and work. Walker admired how Hurston embraced Black culture through her literature. Something the two authors share in their writing style is that Their Eyes Were Watching God (and other works) and The Color Purple both use the Black southern vernacular in their characters’ dialogue. In the essay “In Search of Zora Neale Hurston” (first published in Ms. magazine in 1975, later titled “Looking for Zora”) Alice Walker explored Hurston’s hometown of Eatonville, Florida, and came to understand that it was immensely influential to her works. The influence of Eatonville
Hurston’s father was born into slavery;