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Zora Neale Hurston : A literary legend


In 1928, her relationship with Sheen broke off and she published “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” in the World Tomorrow.

The 1930's:

Zora organized the field notes that became “Mules and Men” from 1930 to 1932. She worked on the play "Mule Bone" with Langston Hughes in 1930. Zora published “Hoodoo in America” in the Journal of American Folklore in 1931. However, in the same year, Zora broke with Langston Hughes over the authorship of “Mule Bone.” On July 7, 1931, she divorced Sheen and later that year she wrote for a theatrical revue called “Fast and Furious.”

In 1932, she also wrote and staged a theatrical revue called “The Great Day,” first performed on January 10, on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre. She also worked with the creative literature department of Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, to produce a concert program of Negro music.

She wrote “The Fiery Chariot” in 1933 and staged “From Sun to Sun” (a version of "Great Day") at Rollins College. She also published “The Gilded Six-Bits” in Story. In 1934, Zora published six essays in Nancy Cunard’s anthology, Negro. She then went to Bethune-Cookman College to establish a school of dramatic arts “based on pure Negro expression.” She then published “Jonah’s Gourd Vine,” which became a Book of the Month Club selection. Her “The Fire and the Cloud” in the Challenge was published the same year along with “Singing Steel” (a version of "Great Day") performed in Chicago.

In 1935, Zora joined the WPA Federal Theatre Project as a “dramatic coach” and she published “Mules and Men.” In 1936, she was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship to study West Indian Obeah practices. From April to September 1936, she was in Jamaica; from September 1936 to March 1937, while in Haiti, Zora wrote “Their Eyes Were Watching God” in seven weeks. In September 1937, she returned to the United States; Their Eyes Were Watching God was published on September 18.

In 1939, she married Albert Price III in Florida. She was also hired as a drama instructor by North Carolina College for Negroes at Durham, and met Paul Green, a professor of drama at the University of North Carolina. During the same year, Moses, Man of the Mountain is published.

The 1940's:

In February 1940, Zora filed for divorce from Price, though the two were reconciled briefly. She made a folklore-collecting trip to South Carolina. In the spring of
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