Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston was one of the primary voices of the Harlem Renaissance. Trained as an anthropologist, she studied folklore of Black people in the Southern United States. Hurston also wrote short stories, novels, and articles. Her masterpiece, Their Eyes Were Watching God, was published in 1937. She never achieved financial success, but she did enjoy quite a bit of influence in the Black literary community. Her correspondence with Langston Hughes and W.E.B. Du Bois is particularly well-known. Today, she is considered a leading writer of her time and her works hold timeless messages and value. 

Art by Dorothy Burge

This quilt was designed by Dorothy Burge and machine quilted by Judy Wolff.

Dorothy Burge is a quiltavist, a person who does quilting and activism together. She is a fabric and multimedia artist and community activist who is inspired by history and current issues of social justice. Burge’s ancestors created beautiful quilts from recycled clothing. Her realization that the history and culture of her people were being passed in the form of quilt art inspired her to use this medium as a tool to teach history, raise cultural awareness, and inspire action.