On this date, Eatonville, Florida, was founded in 1887. Eatonville is located a few miles north of Orlando, Florida.
Eatonville, the first incorporated Black town in America, possesses a rich traditional Black culture that has endured through generations. It is one of the more than 100 Black towns founded between 1865 and 1900.
The Town of Eatonville was founded by three Union officers: Captain Josiah Eaton, Captain Lewis Lawrence, and another unknown officer. Following the American Civil War, these men left America to settle in South America, but they turned back and settled in Florida during their voyage.
At this time, blacks in Central Florida had been brought there by Seminole and Cherokee Indians. The Natives had stolen the black slaves from many states along the coast. Over time, many of the Natives and former slaves who had not moved west stayed in Central Florida. The town’s population in 2000 was 2,432.
It is the hometown of Zora Neal Hurston, writer, and David Deacon Jones, former professional football player. It celebrates its connection with Zora Neal Hurston with a yearly festival.
Artist Jules Andre Smith created a series of paintings depicting life in Eatonville during the 1930s-1940s. Twelve of these works are at the Maitland Art Center in Eatonville.
The African American Desk Reference
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Copyright 1999 The Stonesong Press Inc. and
The New York Public Library, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Pub.
ISBN 0-471-23924-0
