Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7, 1891, in Notasulga, Alabama, and raised in Florida. She attended Howard University, where she belonged to the Zeta Phi Beta sorority, founded the student newspaper The Hilltop, joined the literary club The Stylus, and earned an associate's degree. She attended Barnard College at Columbia University, where she earned a B.A. in anthropology and spent two years as a graduate student studying Black culture, including music, folklore, literature, and religion; she continued this work throughout her life, at times affiliated with North Carolina Central University, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Federal Writers Project. She also became a well-known creative writer connected to the Harlem Renaissance scene, publishing short stories, plays, novels, and nonfiction, often based on her anthropological fieldwork. Her most famous works include Their Eyes Were Watching God, Mules and Men, “Spunk,” and Dust Tracks on a Road. She died on January 28, 1960, in Fort Pierce, Florida. She is profiled in <a href="https://outhistory.org/exhibits/show/aa-history-month-bios/zora-neale-hurston">LGBT African Americans (2014), by Kali Henderson and Dionn McDonald</a>.