Author’s Background Zora Neale Hurston wrote “Their Eyes Were Watching God” in 1937 after the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a movement in culture, social, and art. Hurston wrote the book in seven weeks when she was in Haiti studying voodoo. When Hurston was a young child, her family moved to Eatonville where her father served as Mayor. The town of Eatonville, Florida is also a town in the book. This town is a major part of the setting because it represents innocence and happiness for the main character, Janie Crawford. Hurston’s life in Eatonville greatly influenced her writing because she made it a major detail in her book.
