if you please” and noted that “We are all quite
happy now.” One year later, Hurston was bemoan-
ing the state of her marriage. Her letter to
Langston Hughes included the dramatic an-
nouncement that she was “going to divorce Her-
bert... He tries to hold me back and be generally
obstructive so I have broken off relations since
early Jan. and that’s that.” The marriage ended of-
ficially in July 1931. Hurston’s second marriage, in
1939 to Albert Price III, also ended in divorce. She
met Price, who was 25 years her junior, during her
tenure with the Works Project Administration. A
native of Jacksonville, Florida, he was a student
when the wedding occurred. The marriage broke
down amid Hurston’s claims that Price did not
work and that he failed to offer her adequate sup-
port. Price generated counterclaims in which he
stated he was afraid of her potential black magic
powers and her anger. In 1944, Hurston married a
third time. She and James Howell Pitts, a South
Carolina native, Cleveland businessman, and
Meharry Medical College graduate, were wed in
southern Florida near Daytona Beach. Hurston
scholars Boyd and Carla Kaplan have uncovered
absorbing details about Hurston’s marriages, espe-
cially her last and most elusive relationship with
Pitts. The Hurston-Pitts marriage was the shortest
of the three; it lasted only eight months and ended
officially on 31 October 1944.
It was while a student at Howard University
that Hurston published her first short story. “JOHN
REDDINGGOES TOSEA” appeared in the STYLUS,
the highly regarded college literary magazine that
ALAINLOCKEand T. MONTGOMERYGREGORYes-
tablished. She took the New York City literary scene
by storm when, in 1925, she won two prizes in the
first OPPORTUNITYliterary contest. FANNIEHURST,
one of her patrons, was a judge and was on hand to
deliver the prize to Hurston in person. Hurston be-
came a secretary and personal assistant to the ac-
claimed writer Hurst shortly thereafter. It was Hurst
who, at the suggestion of Annie Nathan Meyer,
Barnard College founder and Hurston supporter, of-
fered to cover Hurston’s tuition. As she had at
Howard, Hurston thrived as a writer while immers-
ing herself in her academics. In addition to winning
notable literary prizes, she published short fiction in
a variety of magazines. The short story “Under the
Bridge” appeared in the December 1925 issue of The
X-Ray: The Official Publication of Zeta Phi Beta Soror-
ity,her folktale “Possum” appeared in the September
1926 issue of FORUM,and later in the fall of 1926,
she published “THEEATONVILLEANTHOLOGY,” a
three-month long series of folktales and folk histo-
ries in THEMESSENGER.The play The First Oneap-
peared in EBONY ANDTOPAZ:A COLLECTANEA,
the 1927 anthology edited by sociologist and Oppor-
tunityeditor CHARLESS. JOHNSON.
Hurston was one of the most visible and gen-
erous individuals who moved in Harlem Renais-
sance circles. She was regularly honored in literary
competitions sponsored by the Urban League and
its official journal Opportunity.She won in two
categories of the 1924–25 Opportunitycompeti-
tion. She received the second prize for “SPUNK”
and honorable mention for “Black Death” in the
short story contest, and her play COLORSTRUCK
tied for second prize with Warren McDonald in
the drama category. In 1926 judges ZONAGALE,
JEANTOOMER,CARLVANDOREN, and others
awarded a split second-place prize to her short
story “MUTTSY” and to Dorothy West’s “THE
TYPEWRITER.” The prize committee, comprising of
David Belasco, T. Montgomery Gregory, PAUL
ROBESON, and Stark Young, awarded honorable
mention to her plays Color Struckand The First
One.
She was known for her unstinting kindness,
willingness to house and feed her friends in need,
and enthusiasm for artistic ventures. She collabo-
rated with many well-known figures of the period.
In 1926 she joined forces with LANGSTON
HUGHES, WALLACETHURMAN, AARONDOUGLAS,
and BRUCENUGENTin an effort to generate a dy-
namic, new literary forum. The journal FIRE!!ap-
peared in November of that year. Hurston’s role in
the conception and production of the magazine
placed her in the ranks of enterprising female jour-
nalists and editors such as Mary Ann Shad Cary,
Pauline Hopkins, and JESSIEFAUSET.
Hurston collaborated with Langston Hughes
on collective ventures such as the Fire!!project
and on individual creative projects. Their aware-
ness of each other was intensified because the writ-
ers shared a patron in CHARLOTTE OSGOOD
MASON. In 1929 they were neighbors in Westfield,
New Jersey, a situation produced by Mason’s desire
to monitor closely the activities of her protégés.Hurston, Zora Neale 263