About

A Close Up View of Monstera Plant Leaves - African American Literature Books | African American Literature | African American Writers 21st Century | Books About Zora Neale Hurston
Photo of Author, Deborah G. Plant - African American Literature Books | African American Literature | African American Writers 21st Century | Books About Zora Neale Hurston

Dr. Plant

Photo Credit: Gloria Plant-Gilbert

West African Symbol Nyame Dua - African American Literature Books | African American Literature | African American Writers 21st Century | Books About Zora Neale Hurston
West African Symbol Nyame Dua - African American Literature Books | African American Literature | African American Writers 21st Century | Books About Zora Neale Hurston
West African Symbol Nyame Dua - African American Literature Books | African American Literature | African American Writers 21st Century | Books About Zora Neale Hurston

Deborah G. Plant is an African American Literature and Africana Studies Independent Scholar and literary critic specializing in the life and works of Zora Neale Hurston.

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She is editor of The Life of Herod the Great (2025) by Zora Neale Hurston and author of Of Greed and Glory: In Pursuit of Freedom for All (2024); editor of Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” (2018), a New York Times Bestseller, by Zora Neale Hurston.  And author of Alice Walker: A Woman for Our Times (2017), a philosophical biography.  She is also editor of “The Inside Light”: New Critical Essays on Zora Neale Hurston (2010); and author of Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Spirit (2007) and Every Tub Must Sit on Its Own Bottom: The Philosophy and Politics of Zora Neale Hurston (1995).  

She holds a BA from Southern University, an MA from Atlanta University, and MA and Ph. D. degrees in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  She was instrumental in founding the University of South Florida’s Department of Africana Studies and chaired the department for five years.  Plant resides in Florida.

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Specializing in the life and works of

Zora Neale Hurston

Black and White Photo of Zora Neale Hurston Smoking - African American Literature Books | African American Literature | African American Writers 21st Century | Books About Zora Neale Hurston

Editor

Author

Literary Critic

Keynote Speaker

Independent Scholar

An Open Book - African American Literature Books | African American Literature | African American Writers 21st Century | Books About Zora Neale Hurston
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"Thought is the only reality."

— Zora Neale Hurston

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Books By Deborah G. Plant

The Life of Herod the Great

The Life of Herod the Great

Of Greed and Glory: In Pursuit of Freedom for All

Of Greed and Glory: In Pursuit of Freedom for All

Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"

Alice Walker: A Woman for Our Times

Alice Walker: A Woman for Our Times

"The Inside Light": New Critical Essays on Zora Neale Hurston

"The Inside Light": New Critical Essays on Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Spirit

Zora Neale Hurston: A Biography of the Spirit

Every Tub Must Sit on Its Own Bottom: The Philosophy and Politics of Zora Neale Hurston

Every Tub Must Sit on Its Own Bottom: The Philosophy and Politics of Zora Neale Hurston