Zora Centennial
The Zora Neale Hurston Centennial
From 2025 to 2028, Barnard will celebrate the centenary anniversary of the enrollment and graduation of Zora Neale Hurston, Class of 1928, and Black students at Barnard. The College envisions this interdisciplinary, multiyear project as a way to engage with Hurston’s texts and her methodologies and to explore her legacy in Harlem and beyond through courses for students, faculty seminars, undergraduate research, and archival projects, with the hope of learning more about the opportunities and challenges for Hurston and the students who followed her at Barnard.
About Zora Neale Hurston ’28
In September 1925, celebrated novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston enrolled at Barnard, becoming the College’s first self-identified Black student. Hurston’s life’s work combined her scholarship and interest in literature, history, theatre, and performance, as well as folklore and anthropology; it transformed and enriched the disciplines of anthropology and American and African American literature.
News
Hundreds of Hurston fans — alongside her family members and scholars — visited campus over the weekend to honor her legacy at the College where she enrolled nearly a century ago.
The Barnard community celebrates Zora Neale Hurston’s centennial — and her impactful legacy — with personal and professional reflections.
Groundbreaking programs honor the legacy of Zora Neale Hurston ’28 and the Black alumnae who proudly followed in her footsteps.
“How It Feels to Be Colored Me” (1928)
“…at Barnard. “Beside the waters of the Hudson” I feel my race. Among the thousand white persons, I am a dark rock surged upon, and overswept by a creamy sea. I am surged upon and overswept, but through it all, I remain myself. When covered by the waters, I am; and the ebb but reveals me again.” — Zora Neale Hurston ’28
Events
Select “Zora Neale Hurston ’28 Centennial Celebration Fund” as the designation for your gift at the link below.