Zora Neale Hurston’s legacy lives on in Central Florida, beyond
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Zora Neale Hurston may now be considered the most significant Black woman writer of the first half of the 20th century, but at the time of her death, family members say she was penniless. Her 85-year-old niece, Vivian Hurston Bowden, said the writer died without any recognition for her now-acclaimed work. “Nobody knew her before her death,” Bowden said. Her name is synonymous with Eatonville, but beyond growing up there, Hurston bounced around Central Florida writing her classics. READ: Little museum in Eatonville is big on culture, historyThey were set ablaze by someone in the Fort Pierce nursing home where Hurston died.
wftv.comValerie Boyd, Zora Neale Hurston biographer, dead at 58
NEW YORK — (AP) — Valerie Boyd, who wrote a well regarded biography of Zora Neale Hurston and editor of an upcoming collection of author Alice Walker's journals, has died at age 58. She was an associate professor and writer in residence at the Grady College of Journalism at the University of Georgia. Boyd was a former arts editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution whose "Wrapped in Rainbow: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston" was published in 2003 and praised by The New York Times for its “painstaking and thorough” research. Simon & Schuster will publish “Gathering Blossoms Under Fire, The Journals of Alice Walker 1965-2000” on April 12. “Valerie Boyd was one of the best people ever to live, which she did as a free being.
wftv.comThe Town that Freedom Built: The story of Eatonville, America’s first official black town
EATONVILLE, Fla. — In 1887, during reconstruction, Eatonville, FL became the first official municipality in America that had been established by freed African-Americans. However, they wanted something of their own, and in 1887, Eatonville became the first black town to be officially incorporated into the United States. “The town was founded as a black haven,” Nathiri says. On the front page of an 1888 edition of the “Eatonville Speaker,” the author tried to recruit other black families, saying “Colored people of the United States! They were important in the founding of the city,” Nathiri says.
wftv.comEatonville's annual Zora Festival hosts two days of Afrofuturist exploration Friday-Saturday
click to enlarge image via ZORA! FestivalEatonville's annual Zora Festival presents cultural programming that honors Zora Neale Hurston, one of the most beloved African American writers of the 20th century, and the historic heritage of Eatonville, the Central Florida town she once called home.Hurston, author of celebrated booksand, grew up in Eatonville, the oldest incorporated African American municipality in the United States; she returned to Florida after her time as part of the Harlem Renaissance and as a WPA writer. Her prose captures the cultural vibrancy of her childhood hometown and serves as a historical snapshot of a community in which Black individuals could live as they pleased. She later dedicated herself to anthropological fieldwork, recording and collecting the oral history and folklore of Black America.In the spirit of her lively explorations of African American culture, the centerpiece of this year's Zora Fest is a two-day seminar curated by Dr. Julian Chambliss , formerly of Rollins College and now at Michigan State University. Chambliss is also a Zora Festival national planner.“Afrofuturism — What Is Its Sound?” will look at ways Black culture marries elements of futurism or science fiction to the oral tradition and music technology evident in Black history.
orlandoweekly.com