Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga on January 7, 1891. Her parents, John Hurston and Lucy Potts, met there at Macedonia Baptist Church, but moved to Eatonville, Florida, where Zora grew up. Through extreme dedication she secured higher education at Howard University, Barnard College, and Columbia University. Her first novel, Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934), based on her parents' lives, is set partly in Notasulga. Her masterpiece Their Eyes Were Watching God appeared in 1937. She also published the novels Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939) and Seraph, on the Suwanee (1948), the culture and anthropology books Mules and Men (1935) and Tell My Horse (1938), and the autobiography Dust Tracks on a Road (1942). After long neglect, her literary reputation blossomed two decades after she died in Fort Pierce, Florida, on January 28, 1960.