59 pages 1 hour read

Zora Neale Hurston

Dust Tracks on a Road

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1942

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapters 1-5

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary: "My Birthplace"

Hurston opens her autobiography with an account of the founding of Eatonville, Florida, her hometown, by three white men who bought up the land that had been opened up to white settlers in the aftermath of the Seminole Wars of the 1850s. According to Hurston, the town was an unusual place, one in which white settlers and the African Americans who came for work opportunities in the booming territory interacted with little friction.

When the town of Maitland was incorporated in 1858, both the mayor and sheriff were African Americans and their election seemed not to bother the white inhabitants at all. In the waning years of the 1800s, the African-American inhabitants of Maitland incorporated their own town, becoming, Hurston claims, one of the first such towns in the United States.

Chapter 2 Summary: "My Folks"

In this chapter, Hurston recounts her family history. John Hurston, her father, came from a family of poor Alabama sharecroppers and was rumored to be the son of a white man. Lucy Ann Potts came from a prosperous family that owned its own land. A strikingly handsome man, John Hurston began courting Lucy when he was 20 and she was 14. Despite strong opposition from the Potts family, the pair married and settled down in the plantation cabin where John lived.

Related Titles

By Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

Zora Neale Hurston

Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

Drenched in Light

Zora Neale Hurston

Drenched in Light

Zora Neale Hurston

Plot Summary

logo

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick

Zora Neale Hurston

Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick

Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

How It Feels To Be Colored Me

Zora Neale Hurston

How It Feels To Be Colored Me

Zora Neale Hurston

Plot Summary

logo

Jonah's Gourd Vine

Zora Neale Hurston

Jonah's Gourd Vine

Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

Moses, Man of the Mountain

Zora Neale Hurston

Moses, Man of the Mountain

Zora Neale Hurston

Plot Summary

logo

Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life

Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston

Mule Bone: A Comedy of Negro Life

Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

Mules and Men

Zora Neale Hurston

Mules and Men

Zora Neale Hurston

Plot Summary

logo

Seraph on the Suwanee

Zora Neale Hurston

Seraph on the Suwanee

Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

Spunk

Zora Neale Hurston

Spunk

Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

Sweat

Zora Neale Hurston

Sweat

Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

Tell My Horse

Zora Neale Hurston

Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica

Zora Neale Hurston

Plot Summary

logo

The Eatonville Anthology

Zora Neale Hurston

The Eatonville Anthology

Zora Neale Hurston

Study Guide

logo

The Gilded Six-Bits

Zora Neale Hurston

The Gilded Six-Bits

Zora Neale Hurston

STUDY + TEACHING GUIDE

logo

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston