Their Eyes Were Watching God Resources

A dedicated anthropologist, Hurston worked for the WPA Federal Writer’s Project to record black folklore, music, and rituals in Florida during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Library of Congress website has a full archive of the sound recordings Hurston and the other anthropologists collected during their time in Florida.

Lucy Ann Hurston on NPR talking about her famous aunt.

Hurston’s day job was as an anthropologist. Some of her work involved going to Florida and documenting aspects of the culture there. In this audio clip, Hurston describes a card game and railroad song.

We wonder if this is the one starring Halle Berry?

Photograph of Zora Neale Hurston looking very fashionable.

A photo of Janie (Halle Berry) and Tea Cake from the movie.

Featuring the hurricane.

Janie under the blossoming tree.

More blossoms.

A cover featuring Janie and Teacake.

A recent cover from HarperPerennial.

This website has a biography of Hurston, a timeline of her life, and plenty of other useful information on the author and her work.

Before Hurston wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God, she created a collection of folklore gathered from her research of black cultural life in Eatonville. That collection later became the book Mules and Men. Several of the folktales in the book can open new ways of understanding the folklore in Their Eyes, especially “Witness of the Johnstown Flood in Heaven.”

A news article on Hurston.

This site has images of various materials on Hurston from the University of Florida’s library archives.