Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to 'jump at de sun, ' says Zora Neale Hurston, We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground. It is this spirit and ambition that carried Zora Neale Hurston through her travels. As an anthropologist Hurston studied African-American culture in the South and collected stories and folklore, but as a writer Hurston gave these stories life and made them widely known. Zora Neale Hurston is the author of Mules and Men and Their Eyes Were Watching God. Readers of Laura Baskes Litwin's compelling new profile will understand why Hurston is one of history's most influential African-American writers.