Zora Neale Hurston:
A Life in Playwriting
Meet the Team
Faculty Advisor
Michelle Cowin Gibbs, Ph.D. M.F.A. is an assistant professor and head of the B.A. program in Theatre Arts at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, IL. Her scholarly research interests include a spectrum of interdisciplinary studies in Black performativity, Black theatre and dance studies, and solo autoethnographic performance. Michelle is a Zora Neale Hurston Studies scholar. She examines Black womanhood across Hurston’s body of theatrical work, and makes connections among her anthropological and ethnographic research with play analysis. She is developing a digital humanities project devoted to Zora Neale Hurston's theatre.
What is Digital Humanities?
Digital Humanities is an interdisciplinary approach to research and information sharing centered around accessibility, collaboration, and innovation. While those unfamiliar with the field might describe it as just “Humanities, but online”, Digital Humanities is much more about discovering and sharing new ways to analyze, discuss, and communicate information than it is about the technology it utilizes. Digital Humanities breaks down the barriers between seemingly unrelated fields, asking researchers to combine a vast variety of perspectives in order to discover new insights into data. At the same time, Digital Humanities prompts its scholars to reflect on the ethics of the sourcing and uses of their data. DH asks, Whom does this information affect? How can I make this information accessible to those who need it? By answering those questions, those practicing Digital Humanities bridge the divide between the academic and non-academic spheres.
Our Sources
About Zora Neale Hurston.” Zora Neale Hurston, Zora Neale Hurston Trust, 2022, https://www.zoranealehurston.com/about/.
​
Bureau, US Census. “1920 Census: Volume 1. Population, Number and Distribution.” Census.gov, 30 Jan. 2018, www.census.gov/library/publications/1921/dec/vol-01-population.html.
​
Bureau, US Census. “1930 Census: Volume 1. Population, Number and Distribution.” The United States Census Bureau, www.census.gov/library/publications/1931/dec/1930a-vol-01-population.html.
Bureau, US Census. “1940 Census of Population: Volume 1. Number of Inhabitants.” The United States Census Bureau, www.census.gov/library/publications/1942/dec/population-vol-1.html.
Bureau, US Census. “1950 Census of Population: Preliminary Counts. Population of (State) by Counties: April 1, 1950.” Census.gov, www.census.gov/library/publications/1950/dec/pc-02.html.
Bureau, US Census. “1940 Census of Population: Families.” Census.gov, www.census.gov/library/publications/1943/dec/population-families.html.
Bureau, US Census. “1930 Census: Volume 6. Families. Reports by States.” Census.gov, www.census.gov/library/publications/1933/dec/1930a-vol-06-families.html.
​
Bowden, Denny. “Zora Neale Hurston's Life on Florida's East Coast.” Florida History Network Blogs, Florida History Network , http://www.floridahistorynetwork.com/blog---zora-neale-hurstons-life-on-floridas-east-coast.html.
​
“Florida Folklife from the WPA Collections, 1937-1942.” Library of Congress Digital Collections, The Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/collections/florida-folklife-from-the-works-progress-administration/about-this-collection/.
​
“Life, Times and Place: Community.” Zora Neale Hurston Digital Archive, 2022, https://chdr.cah.ucf.edu/hurstonarchive/?p=communities.
​
“New Tracks on Dust Tracks: Toward a Reassessment of the Life of Zora Neale Hurston.” Jstor.org, Indiana State University, 2022, https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3042175.pdf.
​
“Timeline of Zora Neale Hurston.” Timeline of Zora Neale Hurston | Fort Pierce, FL - Official Website, City of Fort Pierce, https://www.cityoffortpierce.com/412/Timeline-of-Zora-Neale-Hurston.
​
“Zora Neale Hurston Plays at the Library of Congress.” Loc.gov, The Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/collections/zora-neale-hurston-plays/articles-and-essays/timeline/.
Who We Are
Name: Julia McMahon
Major: Political Science &
English Literature
Class of 2025
Name: Ellie Kurtz
Major: Sociology & History
Class of 2024
Name: Mishwa Bhavsar
Major: Computer Science
Class of 2023
Name: Leah Rosen
Major: Greek & Roman Studies
Class of 2023
About the Fellowship
The Ames Library of Illinois Wesleyan University held their first five week Summer Digital Humanities Fellowship Program, led by Abigail Mann, for students in the summer of 2022. This program offered us a chance to explore the field of Digital Humanities and develop our own research project, guided by faculty advisors and using the tools that we have learned throughout the program. This project was created through that fellowship in order to investigate how Zora Neale Hurston’s anthropological and ethnographic background impacted her playwriting and her portrayal of Black women.
