Twenty years ago, you would have been hard pressed to find anyone who knew who Zora Neale Hurston was. Today her legacy is vibrantly alive, at least in university English departments. Contemporary writers like Toni Morrison would not be able to do what they do without Hurston first laying the ground work.
Hurston's reputation mainly lies on her brilliant novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, published in 1937. She is also revered for her short fiction, such as "Gilded Six-Bits." Equally compelling is Hurston's work as a social anthopologist. Mules and Men is her most renowned book in this genre and remains a fascinating read.
Although I haven't read it, Hurston did write a play with Langston Hughes, posthumously published by Henry Louis Gates in 1991 and titled Mule Bone. Judging by her other work, it is probably worth checking out.
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