On August 15, 1887, Eatonville was incorporated as an all-Black municipality, making it the first all-Black incorporated town in Florida and one of the earliest such communities in the United States. The town was established by Black residents seeking the opportunity to govern their own community after emancipation.
Eatonville would later become closely associated with one of Florida’s most celebrated writers, Zora Neale Hurston. Although Hurston (pictured) was born in Alabama, her family moved to Eatonville when she was a toddler, and the town’s people, traditions, and folklore became an important influence on her work.
Hurston’s connection to Eatonville appears throughout her writing, including Their Eyes Were Watching God and Mules and Men. In 1935, she also returned to the community while collecting folklore with folklorist Alan Lomax.
Eatonville’s story is a powerful reminder of how African Americans built communities, institutions, and opportunities for self-government during the decades following emancipation.
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