Eatonville By Zora Neale Hurston

The town of EatonVille was a black owned community in 1887.Eatonville is only 6 miles from Orlando. In 2010 the current population was 2,159. The town Eatonville was founded by 3 African American after the civil war. The author Zora Neale Hurston was raised in Eaton. Majority of Zora’s writings are based on the town. Zora Hurston and the state of Florida have a connection because of the town Eatonville and her writing. EatonVille was one of the first black owned towns in that time era. Eatonville was founded by Captain Josiah Eaton, Captain Lewis Lawrence , And the last captain is unknown. After the Civil War , the captains left to settle in south Africa , but during their voyage they turned to settle in Florida. The town was first named Maitland.
Thy named the Town after Josiah Eaton who soon after became mayor.
Slaves were brought by the seminole and cherokee Indians. The slaves will later call eatonville their home. At this time the Indians were stealing many slaves from various states. The slaves then became citizens of Eatonville and were able to call it their home. Since Eatonville was a founded town they were low on supplies and workers. Thats where the slaves came into play. The slaves that stayed in central florida were used to clear the lands. On August 15th,1887 the town Eatonville Officially had 27 registered citizens.Eatonville became a city with black self-government calling itself “The Town That Freedom Built”. Eatonville started to expand quickly. The first 10 acres were given to the Methodist Church, known today as the St. Lawrence African Methodist Episcopal Church. Founded in 1881, St. Lawrence was the first African American church in the area. St. Lawrence A.M.E. Church was
originally built in the early 1880s. The second building was built in 1908 and stood for 60 years until time and the elements took their toll. The church’s present structure was built in the early 1970s. A second institution, which was a hallmark of the town for years, was the Hungerford Normal and Industrial School. Founded in 1889 by Robert Hungerford and others, the school was named in honor of Hungerford’s physician son. Born in Alabama raised in Eatonville was Zora Neal Hurston.
The community of Eatonville shaped her life and writing “ I’ve got the map of Florida on my tongue” (Boyd, V. (n.d.). About Zora Neale Hurston. Retrieved from http://zoranealehurston.com/about/). Zora was born on January 7th , 1981in Notasulga, Alabama. Zora had no memory of Notasulga , having moved to florida as a toddler. She was so proud of her heritage as a black Floridian that in her autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road, she claimed she was born in Eatonville. Zora’s father was a preacher so he moved them to florida because of the St. Lawrence A.M.E. Church , but soon after her mother had passed when she was thirteen. Later that same year, her father removed her from school and sent her to care for her brother’s children. Zora was eager to leave the responsibility of that household. She became a member of a traveling theater at the age of sixteen. After that she worked for a white household. It was in this home that zora discovered her love for writing. Eatonville was always home. she could see black achievement all around
her. All of Zora’s writing have a taste of Eatonville. African American author famous during the New Negro Movement (Harlem Renaissance). Zora's writings have zero evidence of Alabama. Late 1930 and 1940 marked the beginning of career. ‘Their eyes were watching god’(1937), ‘Tell my horse’(1938), ‘Moses, man of the mountain’(1939) and , ‘Dusttrak’(1942). “Hurston is noted as the first Black American to collect and publish African-American and Afro-Caribbean folklore. She wrote stories, novels, anthropological folklore, and an autobiography. She could write about the most ordinary things and make them infinitely gorgeous. Her characters appeared real and human. Her works have increased in popularity with the passing of time.”( (n.d.)Famous Floridians: Zora Neale Hurston.. Retrieved from fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/hurston) For a number of years Hurston was on the faculty of North Carolina College for Negroes (now North Carolina Central University) in Durham. She also was on the staff of the Library of Congress. Dust Tracks on a Road (1942), an autobiography, is highly regarded. Her last book, Seraph on the Suwanee, a novel, appeared in 1948. Despite her early promise, by the time of her death Hurston was little remembered by the general reading public, but there was a resurgence of interest in her work in the late 20th century. In addition to Mule Bone, several other collections were also published posthumously; these include Spunk: The Selected Stories (1985), The Complete Stories (1995), and Every Tongue Got to Confess (2001), a collection of folktales from the South. In 1995 the Library of America published a two-volume set of her work in its series. In the final analysis Zora Hurston and the state of florida have a connection because of the town Eatonville and her writing. Despite the circumstances that Zora Hurston faced she remained on the path of success. Eatonville was one of the first black owned towns. So Eatonville was a big deal at that time. Zora was born in Alabama, raised in Eatonville and daughter of 2 former slaves. All of zora's writing have a taste of Eatonville. "I was born in a Negro town. I do not mean by that the black back–side of an average town. Eatonville, Florida, is, and was at the time of my birth, a pure Negro town–charter, mayor, council, town marshal town." Zora Neale Hurston declares in her memoir, Dust Tracks on a Road.