With the start of February also comes the start of Black History Month. Looking back, there are plenty of activists and people that took part in shaping Black History. One of them is, Florida’s own, Zora Neale Hurston.

Born in Alabama, Hurston was one of the most important black writers in American history. She and her family moved to Eatonville, Florida when she was a toddler, and is now one of the most famous African-American icons from Florida.

She has said that most of her inspiration to write started when she was 13 years old, when her mother died.

“That hour began my wanderings…not so much in geography, but in time. Then not so much in time as in spirit,” wrote Hurston.

Many students study Hurston’s pieces of literature in order to gain insight on her journey to self-realization, and what is was like to live in the South during the 1920s and 30s.

Her most famous piece, which is read by most American high school students, is Their Eyes Were Watching God, a coming of age and religious journey in the American south.

Besides writing, Hurston was a member of the Federal Writers Project in Florida, received a Doctor of Letters degree from Morgan State College, established a school of dramatic arts, and studied for a PhD in anthropology. In addition, she traveled to Haiti and Jamaica which is where she wrote some of her best work.

All in all, Zora Neale Hurston is an iconic African-American novelist that will always be remembered for not only her writing, but her work in the black community as well.