FORT PIERCE — Governor Charlie Crist is proclaiming Jan. 28, 2010 Zora Neale Hurston Day in Florida in remembrance of the late Harlem Renaissance author who died in Fort Pierce 50 years ago on Jan. 28, 1960.
Crist is calling up Florida residents to consider Hurston’s literary achievements, her anthropological work that has helped to preserve the black culture of Floridians and many other areas and her valuable contributions to Florida’s cultural arts, historical research and state tourism from visitors to various areas around the state.
The Fort Pierce City Commission adopted a Proclamation last week and the St. Lucie County Commission will adopt a proclamation Jan. 26. Both commissions are encouraging residents to attend a gravesite memorial service on Jan. 28 and other Zora Fest! activities throughout the year.
In remembrance of her death 50 years ago, the Zora Neale Hurston Committee and the Zora Neale Hurston Florida Foundation are coordinating a memorial service at 4 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Hurston grave site. The cemetery is on North 17th Street at Avenue S.
The Governor’s Proclamation will be read at the service, and flowers will be placed on her grave. In addition, Indian River State College professor Steve Knapp will provide a review of Hurston’s career.
Hurston came to Fort Pierce in the late 1950s at the request of publisher C.E. Bolen, of the Fort Pierce Chronicle. He asked her to write a column for his newspaper, which dealt with local issues, as well as topics from her many travels over the years. She had previously been employed as the Patrick Air Force Base librarian in Brevard County. She also taught English at the then-all black Lincoln Park Academy.
Hurston’s grave is now one of several stops on the Zora Neale Hurston Dust Tracks Heritage Trail, established by St. Lucie County and Fort Pierce to allow visitors to learn about the author’s life when she lived in Fort Pierce. The St. Lucie County Library coordinated a grant through the Florida Humanities Council to create the Dust Tracks trail, named for Hurston’s famous autobiography, Dust Tracks on the Road.
Born in Notasulga, Ala., her family moved to Eatonville, Fla., an all-black community where her father was the minister and at various times, served as Mayor. She was the fifth of six children. Hurston left Eatonville a few years after she turned 13 (the year her Mother died) to see the world outside and wound up becoming one of the most prolific writers of the 20th century, with seven novels, four children’s books, plays, poetry and magazine short stories and articles. Among her many jobs was to work for Paramount Pictures.
She is best known for her work with the WPA Federal Writers Project and for grant-sponsored anthropological research projects through which she collected songs and oral stories of the black culture. These collections are stored at the Library of Congress and many of the stories transferred to life pieces in her books. Much of this work was completed in the late 1920s and 1930s.
During her years in Fort Pierce, Dr. Clem C. Benton and his family took care of Hurston, providing her with a place to live and checking in on her. She died at the age of 69, having suffered two strokes. She was placed in the St. Lucie County Welfare Home following the first stroke.
It is believed she did not wish to return to family members, who lived in nearby Brevard County and Jacksonville at the time. The author, known as the Queen of the Harlem Renaissance, died on Jan. 28, 1960 and was laid to rest in what is now Sarah’s Memorial Garden in Fort Pierce. At the time, it was the Garden of Heavenly Rest Cemetery, a segregated cemetery.
Several families in the community collected funds for Hurston’s burial, coordinated by Peek’s Memorial Chapel. Former St. Lucie County Commissioner Marjorie Silver Alder wrote an article for The Miami Herald, announcing Hurston’s death.
In the days following her death, then-St. Lucie County Deputy Sheriff Pat Duval saved many of Hurston’s papers, letters and her final manuscript from a fire behind her home.
Workers cleaning out her home were burning her belongings. The manuscript – Herod the Great – was Hurston’s final work. All of the papers were turned over to the University of Florida Library and today have been used by researchers and others on Hurston’s life, thoughts and activities.
In 1973, Color Purpleauthor Alice Walker arrived in Fort Pierce in a search for Zora Neale Hurston. She placed a marker on the grave site, when she saw that it was not marked. Local officials have since marked the grave with a larger identification and a kiosk as part of the Dust Tracks Trail.
In 1975, Walker wrote an article, “In Search of Zora Neale Hurston,” for Ms. Magazine. Since that time, Hurston’s works have been re-printed by publishers and her books restored to libraries and school curriculums, Walker’s visit created a revival of Hurston that has opened many doors to her works. Her most famous book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, has been made into a movie by famed talk show host Oprah Winfrey,with actress Halle Berry in the lead role, and has been part of a BIG READprogram in Florida under former Governor Jeb Bush.
Other Hurston activities planned for the 6th annual Zora Fest! include: Zora’s Birthday Party on Jan. 30, from noon to 3 p.m. at the Hurston Library at 3008 Ave. D in Fort Pierce; and the annual Hattitude Luncheon from 2 to 6 p.m. Feb. 6 at the Koblegard Student Union on the Main Campus of Indian River State College in Fort Pierce.
Reservations and tickets for the luncheon are required at $30 per person by calling Zora Fest! chair Linda Henderson at (772) 834-9227.
Check out additional information for Zora Fest! on the Web at www.zorafest.org. To go on the Dust Tracks Trail, check out http://www.stlucieco.gov/zora/ for an explanation of this self-guided tour.
