Author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was said to have done things her way. The Class of 1928 alumna confirmed as much in PBS’s 2023 documentary about her influence as a folklorist, Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space:
“Being out of school for lack of funds and wanting to be in New York, I decided to go there and try to get back in school in that city. So the first week of January 1925 found me in New York with $1.50, no job, no friends, and a lot of hope.”
Later that year, Hurston transferred from Howard University and enrolled at Barnard, becoming the College’s first Black student. On her “Record of Freshman Interest,” then expected of every new student, she wrote that she planned to earn some of her college expenses by “perhaps [selling] a manuscript or two.”
I have had some small success as writer [sic] and wish above all to succeed at it.
Less than a decade after graduating with a degree in English, she had published Jonah’s Gourd Vine, her 1934 semi-autobiographical novel, 1935’s collection of Black folklore Mules and Men, and her seminal 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God.
“Hurston was bold and supremely confident that she was destined for greatness,” said Monica L. Miller, professor and chair of the Africana Studies Department. “Her time at Barnard was both a confirmation of her talent as a writer and as one of the first trained anthropologists, and it was also a trial of racism and classism, familiar to first-generation students of color everywhere.”
This winter, nearly 100 years after Hurston stepped onto the Morningside Heights campus, the College will host the inaugural, two-day Zora Neale Hurston Summit (January 31 – February 1, 2025). Organized and led by the Zora Neale Hurston Trust, the event will bring together Hurston’s family, fans, and scholars to engage with her work. What’s more, a never-before-published Hurston novel, The Life of Herod the Great, will be released by HarperCollins just ahead of the summit.
The First Hurston Summit at Barnard
Envisioned as a scholarly family reunion, the summit will offer the public an opportunity to be a part of Hurston’s extended family during the event.
“For the first time in history, academics, writers, creatives, and Hurston fans from all walks of life will be able to celebrate the life, legacy, and work of Zora Neale Hurston alongside the Hurston family," said Rae Chesny, director of programs at the Zora Neale Hurston Trust. "The Zora Neale Hurston Trust is deeply honored to host its inaugural summit at Barnard College, an institution intimately connected to Zora’s legacy as an anthropologist, playwright, and literary icon. As [Zora was] Barnard’s first Black student 100 years ago, this partnership offers a profound opportunity to symbolically welcome Zora back home while ushering in a new chapter of her enduring legacy.”
The robust schedule will feature discussions with Miller and Hurston scholar Carla Kaplan, Hurston’s editor Deborah G. Plant (2018’s Barracoon), and National Book Award-winning author Ibram X. Kendi.
Along with workshops, presentations, children’s programming, and performances, including one from the National Black Theatre, and more, attendees will learn about Hurston’s extensive Library of Congress archival collections, and the Oak Cliff Cultural Center will sponsor Letitia Huckaby's art exhibit centering Hurston’s 1927–1928 anthropological fieldwork on Africatown, located near Mobile, Alabama.
Click here to learn more about the Zora Neale Hurston Summit and to RSVP.
Celebrating Hurston in Barnard’s Curriculum
“Nearly 25 years ago, when I arrived on Barnard’s campus, I did not truly understand how important Hurston was to Barnard and how key her experiences on campus and in Harlem were to her life and work,” said Miller. “After teaching Hurston as part of courses on the Harlem Renaissance and organizing two symposia and issues of the Scholar and Feminist Online on Hurston and her legacy, I see Hurston and Barnard differently.” In spring 2024, Miller introduced the first class at Barnard exclusively to studying Hurston’s work.
This fall, Alice Reagan, professor of professional practice in the Theatre Department, is teaching Zora Neale Hurston & Black Performance. Students will study selected plays of Hurston’s, as well as her critical writing on performance, the context of her career as a playwright and theatre maker, and her influences. Reagan plans to teach the course every fall during Hurston’s centenary years at Barnard.
“Hurston saw the inherent value in Black folktales, songs, dances, and culture, going back to her childhood in Florida,” said Reagan. “She saw this material as perfectly suited to the stage and adapted stories that she gathered during her anthropological trips to the South. Her plays almost always included music, singing, and dancing. She was a total theatre artist.”
“We are enormously proud to celebrate the legacy of our alumna Zora Neale Hurston,” said Rebecca L. Walkowitz, Provost and Dean of the Faculty and Claire Tow Professor of English. “Novelist, playwright, essayist, ethnographer, editor, and a supporter of other artists and intellectuals in Harlem and beyond, Hurston is a key figure in the history of 20th-century U.S. literature and culture, especially African American literature, the literature of women’s experience, and literature by women writers. Celebrating her legacy allows us to recover the history of Black students at Barnard, highlight the contributions of Black women writers and artists to the history and future of the Harlem Renaissance, and elevate Barnard’s ongoing commitment to the creative arts.”
100 Years of Black Students at Barnard
The upcoming centennial programming, including the idea for Reagan’s course, grew from the Zora Neale Hurston Centenary Committee — composed of faculty, staff, students, alums, and trustees — who discussed how to honor the alumna, her time on campus as a student, and the subsequent celebration, 100 Years of Black Students at Barnard.
“In the next three years, we want to learn more about the history of Black Barnard students, the challenges and joys they experienced [here], and their aspirations for the future,” said Miller.
To kick this off in 2025, interdisciplinary artist and literary scholar OlaRonke Akinmowo will present the multimedia installation “Black, Brilliant and Free” to the Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning (January 21 – May 5), featuring a range of objects that pay tribute to Hurston’s Barnard centennial. On February 20, acclaimed author Edwidge Danticat ’90 will speak on Hurston for the Lewis-Ezekoye Distinguished Lectureship Series — named after and funded by two Class of 1966 alumnae.
During the spring and summer, Miller is planning to produce workshops led by Barnard’s Center for Engaged Pedagogy that are “designed to encourage more faculty to integrate Hurston and her legacy into their teaching,” she said. “I am hoping to teach a Black Writers at Barnard course — in 2025 or 2026 — that will include a Reading Series with Black alumnae.”
In 2028, when the College marks Hurston’s graduation, community members would have championed her determination to educate herself, "as well as the resilience and moxie she brought to her life and gave to the independent, self-determined women in her work,” said Miller. “It is also designed to honor the students in her wake who face similar challenges securing a Barnard education and who push Barnard to be more diverse and equitable.
Hurston’s Literary Legacy
