2017-01-07 Sat

“It seems to me that trying to live without friends is like milking a bear to get cream for your morning coffee. It is a whole lot of trouble, and then not worth much after you get it.” –Zora Neale Hurston.

One of the most original and accomplished American writers, she was born on 7th January 1891. She lived in Eatonville, Florida- the first incorporated all-black town in the United States and studied African-American heritage at a time when African-African culture was not a popular field of study.

Eatonville played an influential part in her folklore and fiction writings. Her best novel was 'Their Eyes Were Watching God' (1937). In 1956 Hurston received the Bethune-Cookman College Award for Education and Human Relations in recognition of her achievements. She died at St. Lucie Country Welfare Home of a stroke on 28th January 1960.

The United States Postal Service issued this 37 cents stamp of Zora on 24th January 2003 as a part of the Literary Arts Series. Her portrait on the stamp was from a 1934 photograph of hers taken by Carl Van Vechten in Chicago. The background, depicting a sunrise over a river and a tree dripping with Spanish moss, attempts to portray the scenery of Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.