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Image from Voices of Liberty

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Born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, writer Zora Neale Hurston created several acclaimed works of fiction, including the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. She was also an outstanding folklorist and anthropologist who worked to record the stories and tales of many cultures, including her own African-American heritage.

Her birthplace has been the subject of some debate since Hurston herself wrote in her autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road, that Eatonville, Florida was where she was born. But, according to many other sources, she took some creative license with that fact. She probably had no memories of Notasulga, having moved to Florida as a toddler. Hurston was also known to adjust her birth year from time to time as well. Her birthday, according to Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters, may not be January 7, but January 15.

Hurston…