Zora Neale Hurston was a Black author and anthropologist who was also an anti-
assimitationalist. Consistently and defiantly antiracist, Hurston criticized other Black leaders—such as Du Bois—for their elitist tendencies and tendency to think badly of poor, Southern Black people. Hurston’s talent and political outlook were ahead of their time and she did not receive sufficient recognition or money during her life. After her death, however, her work became widely read and celebrated. Many consider her book
Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) to be one of the best American novels of all time.