Editing Zora Neale Hurston (section)

==Literary career==

When Hurston arrived in [[New York City]] in 1925, the [[Harlem Renaissance]] was at its [[zenith]], and she soon became one of the writers at its center. Shortly before she entered Barnard, Hurston's short story "Spunk" was selected for ''[[The New Negro]]'', a landmark anthology of fiction, poetry, and essays focusing on African and African-American art and literature.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Richard |first=A. Long |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-9XtCY7cijMC |title=The concise Oxford companion to African American literature |date=2001 |section=New Negro, The |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-803175-8 |editor-last=Andrews |editor-first=William L |editor2-last=Foster |editor2-first=Frances Smith |editor3-last=Harris |editor3-first=Trudier |access-date=May 9, 2020 |archive-date=January 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107181021/https://books.google.com/books?id=-9XtCY7cijMC |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1926, a group of young black writers including Hurston, Langston Hughes, and [[Wallace Thurman]], calling themselves the [[Niggerati]], produced a literary magazine called ''[[Fire!!]]'' that featured many of the young artists and writers of the Harlem Renaissance.

In 1927, Hurston traveled to the Deep South to collect African-American folk tales. She also interviewed [[Cudjoe Lewis|Cudjoe Kazzola Lewis]], of [[Africatown|Africatown, Alabama]], who was the last known survivor of the enslaved Africans carried aboard ''[[Clotilda (slave ship)|Clotilda]]'', an illegal slave ship that had entered the US in 1860, and thus the last known person to have been transported in the [[Atlantic slave trade|Transatlantic slave trade]]. The next year she published the article "Cudjoe's Own Story of the Last African Slaver" (1928). According to her biographer [[Robert E. Hemenway]], this piece largely plagiarized the work of [[Emma Langdon Roche]],<ref>{{Cite book|title=Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography|last=Hemenway|first=Robert E.|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=1980|isbn=978-0252008078|location=Urbana and Chicago|pages=[https://archive.org/details/zoranealehurston00robe/page/96 96–99]}}</ref> an Alabama writer who wrote about Lewis in a 1914 book. Hurston did add new information about daily life in Lewis' home village of [[Bantè]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hurston|first=Zora Neale|date=October 1927|title=Cudjoe's Own Story of the Last African Slaver|journal=Journal of Negro History|volume=12|issue=4|pages=648–663|doi=10.2307/2714041|jstor=2714041|s2cid=150096354}}</ref>

Hurston intended to publish a collection of several hundred folk tales from her field studies in the South. She wanted to have them be as close to the original as possible but struggled to balance the expectations of her academic adviser, Franz Boas, and her patron, Charlotte Osgood Mason. This manuscript was not published at the time. A copy was later found at the [[Smithsonian]] archives among the papers of anthropologist [[William Duncan Strong]], a friend of Boas. Hurston's ''Negro Folk-tales from the Gulf States'' was published posthumously in 2001 as ''Every Tongue Got to Confess.''<ref name="The Largesse of Zora Neale Hurston">{{Cite web|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2002/04/16/the-largesse-of-zora-neale-hurston/|title=The Largesse of Zora Neale Hurston|website=villagevoice.com|date=April 16, 2002|access-date=April 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404005546/https://www.villagevoice.com/2002/04/16/the-largesse-of-zora-neale-hurston/|archive-date=April 4, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1928, Hurston returned to Alabama with additional resources; she conducted more interviews with Lewis, took photographs of him and others in the community, and recorded the only known film footage of him—an African who had been trafficked to the United States through the slave trade. Based on this material, she wrote a manuscript, ''[[Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"|Barracoon]]'', completing it in 1931. Hemenway described it as "a highly dramatic, semifictionalized narrative intended for the popular reader."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hemenway |first=Robert E. |title=Zora Neale Hurston : a literary biography|date=1977|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=0-252-00652-6|location=Urbana|pages=100–101}}</ref><ref name="auto">Diouf, Sylviane A. (Sylviane Anna). (2007) ''Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilde and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America.'' New York: Oxford University Press. [https://books.google.com/books?id=xjPKi1CDP2MC&pg=PA225 p. 225] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107181022/https://books.google.com/books?id=xjPKi1CDP2MC&pg=PA225#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=January 7, 2024 }} {{isbn|978-0-19-531104-4}}</ref> It has also been described as a "testimonial text", more in the style of other anthropological studies since the late 20th century.

After this round of interviews, Hurston's literary patron, philanthropist Charlotte Osgood Mason, learned of Lewis and began to send him money for his support.<ref name="auto"/> Lewis was also interviewed by journalists for local and national publications.<ref>Diouf, Sylviane A. (Sylviane Anna). (2007) ''Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilde and the Story of the Last Africans Brought to America.'' New York: Oxford University Press. [https://books.google.com/books?id=xjPKi1CDP2MC&pg=PA226 p. 226] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107181036/https://books.google.com/books?id=xjPKi1CDP2MC&pg=PA226#v=onepage&q&f=false |date=January 7, 2024 }} {{isbn|978-0-19-531104-4}}</ref> Hurston's manuscript ''Barracoon'' was eventually published posthumously on May 8, 2018.<ref name="History">{{cite web|last1=Little|first1=Becky|title=The Last Slave Ship Survivor Gave an Interview in the 1930s. It Just Surfaced|url=https://www.history.com/news/zora-neale-hurston-barracoon-slave-clotilda-survivor|website=History|date=May 3, 2018 |access-date=May 8, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504232902/https://www.history.com/news/zora-neale-hurston-barracoon-slave-clotilda-survivor|archive-date=May 4, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="vulture1">{{cite web |author=Halle Kiefer |url=https://www.vulture.com/2017/12/new-zora-neale-hurston-book-to-be-published-in-2018.html |title=New Zora Neale Hurston Book to Be Published in 2018 |publisher=Vulture.com |date=December 18, 2017 |access-date=May 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504011008/http://www.vulture.com/2017/12/new-zora-neale-hurston-book-to-be-published-in-2018.html |archive-date=May 4, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> "[[Barracoon]]", or [[barracks]] in Spanish, is where captured Africans were temporarily imprisoned before being shipped abroad.<ref name="vulture1"/>

In 1929, Hurston moved to Eau Gallie, Florida, where she wrote ''[[Mules and Men]].'' It was published in 1935.<ref name="Indian River Journal">{{cite book|title=Indian River Journal|series=Brevard Historical Commission |first=Ben |last=Brotemarkle |date= Fall–Winter 2011}}</ref>

===1930s===
By the mid-1930s, Hurston had published several short stories and the critically acclaimed ''Mules and Men'' (1935), a groundbreaking work of "literary anthropology" documenting African-American [[folklore]] from timber camps in North Florida. In 1930, she collaborated with Langston Hughes on ''[[Mule Bone|Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life]]'', a play that they never staged. Their collaboration caused their friendship to fall apart.<ref name="Publishers Weekly">{{cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4792-1302-3|title=Fiction Book Review: Harlem Mosaics|work=Publishers Weekly|date=April 28, 2018|access-date=December 29, 2019|archive-date=December 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229053720/https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4792-1302-3|url-status=live}}</ref> The play was first staged in 1991.<ref name="Hurston, Zora Neale"/>

Hurston adapted her anthropological work for the performing arts. Her folk revue ''The Great Day'' featured authentic African song and dance, and premiered at the [[John Golden Theatre]] in New York in January 1932.<ref name="Kraut">{{cite magazine | url=http://sfonline.barnard.edu/hurston/kraut_02.htm | title=Everybody's Fire Dance: Zora Neale Hurston and American Dance History | last=Kraut | first=Anthea | magazine=S&F Online | volume=3 | number=2 | date=Winter 2005 | issn=1558-9404 | access-date=May 10, 2020 | archive-date=July 26, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726095607/http://sfonline.barnard.edu/hurston/kraut_02.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> Despite positive reviews, it had only one performance.  The Broadway debut left Hurston in $600 worth of debt. No producers wanted to move forward with a full run of the show.

During the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston produced two more musical revues, ''From Sun to Sun,'' which was a revised adaptation of ''The Great Day,'' and ''Singing Steel.'' Hurston had a strong belief that folklore should be dramatized.

Hurston's first three novels were published in the 1930s: ''[[Jonah's Gourd Vine]]'' (1934); ''[[Their Eyes Were Watching God]]'' (1937), written during her fieldwork in Haiti and considered her masterwork; and ''[[Moses, Man of the Mountain]]'' (1939).

In 1937, Hurston was awarded a [[Guggenheim Fellowship]] to conduct ethnographic research in Jamaica and Haiti.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Zora Neale Hurston|url=http://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/aa-history-month-bios/zora-neale-hurston|last=Henderson|first=Kali|website=outhistory.org|access-date=2020-05-10|archive-date=October 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003001428/http://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/aa-history-month-bios/zora-neale-hurston|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Tell My Horse'' (1938) documents her account of her fieldwork studying spiritual and cultural rituals in Jamaica and [[Haitian Vodou|vodoun]] in Haiti.

===1940s and 1950s===
[[File:Zora Neale Hurston (1938).jpg|thumb|Neale Hurston in 1938, photographed by [[Carl Van Vechten]]]]
In the 1940s, Hurston's work was published in such periodicals as ''[[The American Mercury]]'' and ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]''. Her last published novel, ''[[Seraph on the Suwanee]]'', notable principally for its focus on white characters, was published in 1948. It explores images of "[[white trash]]" women. Jackson (2000) argues that Hurston's meditation on abjection, waste, and the construction of class and gender identities among poor whites reflects the [[eugenics]] discourses of the 1920s.<ref>Chuck Jackson, [https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Waste+and+Whiteness%3a+Zora+Neale+Hurston+and+the+Politics+of+Eugenics.-a070434327 "Waste and Whiteness: Zora Neale Hurston and the Politics of Eugenics"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220316192437/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Waste+and+Whiteness:+Zora+Neale+Hurston+and+the+Politics+of+Eugenics.-a070434327 |date=March 16, 2022 }}, ''African American Review'', 2000, 34(4): 639–660.</ref>

In 1952, Hurston was assigned by the ''Pittsburgh Courier'' to cover the small-town murder trial of Ruby McCollum, the prosperous black wife of the local [[bolita]] racketeer, who had killed a racist white doctor. She also contributed to ''Ruby McCollum: Woman in the Suwannee Jail'' (1956), a book by journalist and [[civil rights]] advocate [[William Bradford Huie]].

===Posthumous publications===
Hurston's manuscript ''Every Tongue Got to Confess'' (2001), a collection of folktales gathered in the 1920s, was published posthumously after being discovered in [[Smithsonian]] archives.<ref name="The Largesse of Zora Neale Hurston"/>

In 2008, [[The Library of America]] selected excerpts from ''Ruby McCollum: Woman in the Suwannee Jail'' (1956), to which Hurston had contributed, for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American true crime writing.

Hurston's nonfiction book ''[[Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"|Barracoon]]'' was published in 2018.<ref name="vulture1"/> A barracoon is a type of [[barracks]] where slaves were imprisoned before being taken overseas.<ref name="vulture1"/>

In February 2022, a collection of Hurston's non-fiction writings titled ''You Don't Know Us Negroes and Other Essays'', edited and [[Henry Louis Gates, Jr]], and Genevieve West, was published by [[HarperCollins]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Jackson |first=Lauren Michele |date=2022-02-15 |title=The Zora Neale Hurston We Don't Talk About |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-zora-neale-hurston-we-dont-talk-about |access-date=2023-01-20 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |archive-date=January 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120192943/https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-zora-neale-hurston-we-dont-talk-about |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/feb/27/you-dont-know-us-negroes-by-zora-neale-hurston-review-fearless-and-dazzling-essays|title=You Don't Know Us Negroes by Zora Neale Hurston review – fearless and dazzling essays|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|first=Colin|last=Grant|author-link=Colin Grant (author)|date=27 February 2022}}</ref>

===Spiritual views===
In Chapter XV of ''[[Dust Tracks on a Road]]'', entitled "Religion", Hurston expressed disbelief in and disdain for both theism and religious belief.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://medium.com/religion-bites/religion-by-zora-neale-hurston-4fa3b147579e|title= 'Religion' by Zora Neale Hurston|date= August 24, 2018|access-date= December 23, 2020|archive-date= March 18, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210318022920/https://medium.com/religion-bites/religion-by-zora-neale-hurston-4fa3b147579e|url-status= live}}</ref> She states:
{{blockquote|Prayer seems to me a cry of weakness, and an attempt to avoid, by trickery, the rules of the game as laid down. I do not choose to admit weakness. I accept the challenge of responsibility. Life, as it is, does not frighten me, since I have made my peace with the universe as I find it, and bow to its laws.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ffrf.org/news/day/dayitems/item/14128-zora-neale-hurston |title=Zora Neale Hurston |website=[[Freedom From Religion Foundation]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612114348/https://ffrf.org/news/day/dayitems/item/14128-zora-neale-hurston |archive-date=June 12, 2021 |url-status=dead}}</ref>}}

However, though clearly an [[atheism|atheist]] who firmly rejected the [[Baptist]] beliefs of her preacher father, she retained an interest in religion from anthropological and literary standpoints. She investigated [[Haitian Vodou|voodoo]], going so far as to participate in rituals alongside her research subjects. In another of her original uncensored notes for her autobiography shares her admiration for Biblical characters like [[David|King David]]: "He was a man after God's own heart, and was quite serviceable in helping God get rid of no-count rascals who were cluttering up the place."<ref>{{cite book |first=Zora Neale |last=Hurston |chapter=Seeing the world as it is |title=Dust tracks on a Road |edition=HarperPerennial |year=1991 |page=245 |isbn=9780060921682}}</ref>

===Public obscurity===
Hurston's work slid into obscurity for decades, for both cultural and political reasons. The use of [[African-American English|African-American dialect]], as featured in Hurston's novels, became less popular. Younger writers felt that it was demeaning to use such dialect, given the racially charged history of [[Eye dialect#Use|dialect fiction]] in American literature. Also, Hurston had made stylistic choices in dialogue influenced by her academic studies. Thinking like a folklorist, Hurston strove to represent speech patterns of the period, which she had documented through ethnographic research.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Duck|first1=Leigh Anne|title='Go there to know there': Zora Neale Hurston and the Chronotype of the Folk|journal=American Literary History|date=2001|volume=13|issue=2|pages=265–294|jstor=3054604|doi=10.1093/alh/13.2.265|s2cid=145060987}}</ref>

Several of Hurston's literary contemporaries criticized her use of dialect, saying that it was a caricature of African-American culture and was rooted in a post-Civil War, white racist tradition. These writers, associated with the Harlem Renaissance, criticized Hurston's later work as not advancing the movement. [[Richard Wright (author)|Richard Wright]], in his review of ''Their Eyes Were Watching God,'' said:

{{blockquote|The sensory sweep of her novel carries no theme, no message, no thought. In the main, her novel is not addressed to the Negro, but to a white audience whose chauvinistic tastes she knows how to satisfy. She exploits that phase of Negro life which is "quaint," the phase which evokes a piteous smile on the lips of the "superior" race.<ref>[[Richard Wright (author)|Richard Wright]], "Between Laughter and Tears", ''[[The New Masses]]'', October 5, 1937.</ref>}}

But since the late 20th century, there has been a revival of interest in Hurston.<ref name=":0" /> Critics have since praised her skillful use of [[idiomatic]] speech.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Qashgari|first=Sawsan|date=2017|title=Racism, Feminism, and Language in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God|journal=AWEJ for Translation and Literary Studies|volume=1|page=10|ssrn=2980166}}</ref>

During the 1930s and 1940s, when her work was published, the pre-eminent African-American author was Richard Wright, a former Communist.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/w/richard-wright.html | last=Colville | first=Liz | website=findingdulcinea.com | date=September 4, 2010 |title=Happy Birthday, Richard Wright, Groundbreaking Author of "Black Boy" and "Native Son"|access-date=January 27, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125113111/http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/w/richard-wright.html|archive-date=January 25, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> Unlike Hurston, Wright wrote in explicitly political terms. He had become disenchanted with Communism, but he used the struggle of African Americans for respect and economic advancement as both the setting and the motivation for his work. Other popular African-American authors of the time, such as [[Ralph Ellison]], dealt with the same concerns as Wright albeit in ways more influenced by Modernism.

Hurston, who at times evinced conservative attitudes, was on the other side of the disputes over the promise of leftist politics for African Americans.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Richard Wright encyclopedia|date=2008|publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-313-35519-6|editor-last=Ward|editor-first=Jerry Washington|location=Westport, Conn. |editor2-last=Butler|editor2-first=Robert | section=Hurston, Zora Neale }}</ref> In 1951, for example, Hurston argued that [[New Deal]] economic support had created a harmful dependency by African Americans on the government and that this dependency ceded too much power to politicians.<ref name = "Olasky">{{Cite web |url=http://www.worldmag.com/articles/16346 | last=Olasky | first=Marvin | title=History turned right side up | website=World magazine | date= February 13, 2010 | page= 22 |access-date=August 1, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615045007/http://www.worldmag.com/articles/16346 |archive-date=June 15, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Despite increasing difficulties, Hurston maintained her independence and a determined optimism. She wrote in a 1957 letter:

{{blockquote|But ... I have made phenomenal growth as a creative artist. ... I am not materialistic ... If I do happen to die without money, somebody will bury me, though I do not wish it to be that way.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://inthesetimes.com/article/7077/zora_neale_hurstons_lost_decade|title=Zora Neale Hurston's Lost Decade|first=Eve|last=Ottenberg|date=April 8, 2011|via=In These Times|access-date=November 17, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118053830/http://inthesetimes.com/article/7077/zora_neale_hurstons_lost_decade|archive-date=November 18, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

===Posthumous recognition===
* Zora Neale Hurston's hometown of [[Eatonville, Florida]], celebrates her life annually in Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zoranealehurstonfestival.com/|title=Zora Neale Hurston Festival – Festival of Arts and Humanities|access-date=May 8, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070528160020/http://www.zoranealehurstonfestival.com/|archive-date=May 28, 2007|url-status=usurped}}</ref> It is home to the [[Zora Neale Hurston Museum of Fine Arts]], and a library named for her opened in January 2004.
* The [[Zora Neale Hurston House]] in Fort Pierce has been designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]]. The city celebrates Hurston annually through various events such as ''Hattitudes'', birthday parties, and the several-day event at the end of April known as Zora! Festival.<ref name="zfh" /><ref name=nyt-forgotten-florida>{{cite news|last1=Graham|first1=Adam|title=Forgotten Florida, Through a Writer's Eyes|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/travel/04culture.html|access-date=June 14, 2014|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=March 31, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171206074537/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/travel/04culture.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|archive-date=December 6, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Author [[Alice Walker]] sought to identify Hurston's unmarked grave in 1973. She installed a grave marker inscribed with "A Genius of the South".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.urchinmovement.com/2013/02/05/a-headstone-for-an-aunt-how-alice-walker-found-zora-neale-hurston/  | first=Geo | last=Ong | date=February 5, 2013|title=A Headstone for an Aunt: How Alice Walker Found Zora Neale Hurston|website=urchinmovement.com|access-date=May 7, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180508053739/http://www.urchinmovement.com/2013/02/05/a-headstone-for-an-aunt-how-alice-walker-found-zora-neale-hurston/|archive-date=May 8, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=lucie-grave>{{cite web|title=Zora Dust Tracks Heritage Marker 4|url=http://www.stlucieco.gov/zora/zora_marker_4.htm|website=Dust Tracks Heritage Trail|publisher=St. Lucie County Online|access-date=June 14, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802231206/http://stlucieco.gov/zora/zora_marker_4.htm|archive-date=August 2, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=grosvenor-npr>{{cite news|last1=Grosvenor|first1=Vertamae|title=Intersections: Crafting a Voice for Black Culture|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1849395|access-date=June 14, 2014|work=National Public Radio|date=April 26, 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504090401/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1849395|archive-date=May 4, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Alice Walker]] published "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston" in the March 1975 issue of ''[[Ms. (magazine)|Ms.]]'' magazine, reviving interest in Hurston's work.<ref name="barnard-news">{{cite web|title=Archaeology of a Classic: Celebrating Zora Neale Hurston '28|url=http://barnard.edu/news/archaeology-classic-celebrating-zora-neale-hurston-28|website=News & Events|publisher=Barnard College|access-date=June 14, 2014|date=December 12, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715001314/http://barnard.edu/news/archaeology-classic-celebrating-zora-neale-hurston-28|archive-date=July 15, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/powerprose/hurston/  | first=Christa Smith | last=Anderson|title=Power of Prose – Hurston|website=pbs.org|access-date=June 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001161135/http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/powerprose/hurston/|archive-date=October 1, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In 1991, ''[[Mule Bone|Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life]]'', a 1930 play by [[Langston Hughes]] and Hurston, was first staged; it was staged in New York City by the [[Lincoln Center Theater]].
* In 1994, Hurston was inducted into the [[National Women's Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/zora-neale-hurston/ |website=National Women's Hall of Fame |title=Zora Neale Hurston |access-date=November 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121072749/https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/zora-neale-hurston/ |archive-date=November 21, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* In 2002, scholar [[Molefi Kete Asante]] listed Zora Neale Hurston on his list of [[100 Greatest African Americans]].<ref>Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). ''100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia''. Amherst, New York. [[Prometheus Books]]. {{ISBN|1-57392-963-8}}.</ref>
* [[Barnard College]] dedicated its 2003 [[Virginia Gildersleeve|Virginia C. Gildersleeve]] Conference to Hurston. '' 'Jumpin' at the Sun': Reassessing the Life and Work of Zora Neale Hurston'' focused on her work and influence.<ref name=barnard-gildersleeve-archive>{{cite news|title=Conference Celebrates Legacy of Zora Neale Hurston|url=http://www.barnard.edu/newnews/news101003.html|access-date=June 14, 2014|work=Barnard News Center|publisher=Barnard College|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040604070224/http://www.barnard.edu/newnews/news101003.html | first=Jo | last=Kadlecek|archive-date=June 4, 2004 }}</ref> Alice Walker's Gildersleeve lecture detailed her work on discovering and publicizing Hurston's legacy.<ref name=gildersleeve-video>{{cite web|last1=Walker|first1=Alice|title=Finding a World that I Thought Was Lost: Zora Neale Hurston and the People She Looked at Very Hard and Loved Very Much|url=http://sfonline.barnard.edu/hurston/walker_01.htm|website=S&F Online|publisher=Barnard College|access-date=July 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008221809/http://sfonline.barnard.edu/hurston/walker_01.htm|archive-date=October 8, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
* The Zora Neale Hurston Award was established in 2008; it is awarded to an [[American Library Association]] member who has "demonstrated leadership in promoting African American literature".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/znh |title=The Zora Neale Hurston Award |publisher=American Library Association |access-date=July 30, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820113753/http://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/znh |archive-date=August 20, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* Hurston was inducted as a member of the inaugural class of the [[New York Writers Hall of Fame]] in 2010.
* The novel ''Harlem Mosaics'' (2012) by Whit Frazier depicts the friendship between [[Langston Hughes]] and Hurston and tells the story of how their friendship fell apart during their collaboration on the 1930 play ''[[Mule Bone|Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life]]''.<ref name="Publishers Weekly"/>
* On January 7, 2014, the 123rd anniversary of Hurston's birthday was commemorated by a [[Google Doodle]].<ref>Anika Myers Palm (January 7, 2014). [http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/blogs/gone-viral/os-google-doodle-honors-hurston-20140107,0,351684.post "Google doodle honors Eatonville's Zora Neale Hurston"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107153239/http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/blogs/gone-viral/os-google-doodle-honors-hurston-20140107,0,351684.post |date=January 7, 2014 }}. ''[[Orlando Sentinel]]''. Retrieved January 7, 2014.</ref><ref name="CNET-Hurston">{{cite web |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/google-bestows-author-zora-neale-hurston-her-own-doodle/ |title=Google bestows author Zora Neale Hurston her own doodle |last1=Kerr |first1=Dara |date=January 7, 2014 |website=CNET |access-date=January 7, 2014 |archive-date=December 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181204143722/https://www.cnet.com/news/google-bestows-author-zora-neale-hurston-her-own-doodle/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* She was one of twelve inaugural inductees to the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame on June 8, 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rick Bragg, Harper Lee will be among Alabama Writers' Forum's inductees|url=https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20150525/News/605152280|last=Cobb|first=Mark Hughes|date=May 25, 2015|website=Tuscaloosa News|language=en|access-date=2020-05-10}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* An excerpt from her autobiography ''[[Dust Tracks on a Road]]'' was recited in the documentary film ''August 28: A Day in the Life of a People'', directed by [[Ava DuVernay]], which debuted at the opening of the Smithsonian's [[National Museum of African American History and Culture]] in 2016.<ref name=Essence-NMAAHC-2016>{{cite news|last1=Davis|first1=Rachaell|title=Why Is August 28 So Special To Black People? Ava DuVernay Reveals All In New NMAAHC Film|url=http://www.essence.com/2016/09/22/ava-duvernay-premiere-nmaahc|work=[[Essence (magazine)|Essence]]|date=September 22, 2016|access-date=August 30, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716082304/https://www.essence.com/2016/09/22/ava-duvernay-premiere-nmaahc|archive-date=July 16, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="smithsonianmag2017">{{cite magazine |last1=Keyes |first1=Allison |title=In This Quiet Space for Contemplation, a Fountain Rains Down Calming Waters |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/quiet-space-contemplation-fountain-rains-down-calming-waters-180964981/ |year=2017 |access-date=March 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311201639/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/quiet-space-contemplation-fountain-rains-down-calming-waters-180964981/ |archive-date=March 11, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bustle.com/p/ava-duvernays-august-28-delves-into-just-how-monumental-that-date-is-to-black-history-in-america-10220382 | first= Tai  | last= Gooden |title=Ava Duvernay's 'August 28' Delves Into Just How Monumental That Date Is To Black History In America | date= August 28, 2018 |publisher=Bustle.com |access-date=August 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830174225/https://www.bustle.com/p/ava-duvernays-august-28-delves-into-just-how-monumental-that-date-is-to-black-history-in-america-10220382 |archive-date=August 30, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>
* Hurston was honored in a play written and performed by students at [[Indian River Charter High School]] in October 2017, January 2018, and January 2019. The play was based on letters written between Hurston and [[Vero Beach, Florida|Vero Beach]] entrepreneur, architect and pioneer [[Waldo E. Sexton]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tcpalm.com/story/specialty-publications/vero-beach/2017/11/14/unlikely-friendship-waldo-sexton-zora-neale-hurston-come-life-charter-high/850272001/|title=Unlikely friendship of Waldo Sexton, Zora Neale Hurston will come to life at Charter High|website=TCPalm|language=en|access-date=August 27, 2019|archive-date=August 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190827151524/https://www.tcpalm.com/story/specialty-publications/vero-beach/2017/11/14/unlikely-friendship-waldo-sexton-zora-neale-hurston-come-life-charter-high/850272001/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://irchs.org/irchs-celebrates-vero-beachs-100th-year-anniversary/|first=Jessica|last=Krueger|title=IRCHS Celebrates Vero Beach's 100th Year Anniversary|date=October 23, 2018|website=Indian River Charter High School|language=en-US|access-date=August 27, 2019|archive-date=August 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190827151525/https://irchs.org/irchs-celebrates-vero-beachs-100th-year-anniversary/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* She is the subject of the [[documentary film]] ''Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming A Space'' which first aired on ''[[American Experience]]'' on January 17, 2023.<ref>[https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2023/01/17/zora-neale-hurston-doc-claiming-a-space-pbs/4601673926111/ Pendleton, Tonya. "Tracy Heather Strain's new film shows Zora Neale Hurston as anthropologist", ''United Press International'' (UPI), Tuesday, January 17, 2023.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117172558/https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2023/01/17/zora-neale-hurston-doc-claiming-a-space-pbs/4601673926111/ |date=January 17, 2023 }} Retrieved January 17, 2023.</ref>
* ''Zora's Daughters'' is a [[podcast]] hosted by Alyssa A.L. James and Brendane Tynes, who "follow in the legacy of Hurston and other Black women ethnographers".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://zorasdaughters.com/about/ | title=About | access-date=November 25, 2023 | archive-date=November 25, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231125040235/https://zorasdaughters.com/about/ | url-status=live }}</ref>