The Greatest Black Love of All -Their Eyes were watching God [Spoilers] by Zora Neale Hurston.

Zora lived outside of societal expectations. She had a brief marriage of sorts and fell madly in love once or twice, but in the end she died alone, in a welfare home, forgotten. She was buried in an unmarked grave. Her work fell into obscurity until Alice Walker stumbled upon it decades later.

Her life was extraordinary for a black woman in 1930's America. Although Zora faced significant challenges, she lived it on her terms as much as she could. When it came to life, she believed in self first but after that definitely love. Often the two were inextricably linked.

This is most evident in Their Eyes Were Watching God, a book you can read and read again. Like a flower, it blooms every time you come back to it. It’s a book about living free, truly free and binding yourself to someone not because the world is a harsh place and you need protection from it, but because seeking happiness is the ultimate human endeavour.

It’s easy to understand that now, in societies dense with gurus and life coaches, how-to books and therapists. But we still forget, crushed by the stressful materialism of modern life.

Under Jim Crow, black people suffered unimaginable psychic terror at the hands of white supremacist forces. Segregated, controlled, plundered, maligned, lynched, raped, enslaved.

A lot of writers then were predominantly trying to bring attention to these issues. But Zora did something unexpected. She said yes we’re…