TOWN'S HISTORY
135.5 miles
Founded in 1886
RICH OF BLACK
HISTORY
Zora Neale Hurston grew
up here
Family
Oldest black founded
city still here today
2400 people today
6 miles
Why It Was Founded
Eatonville was originally founded by Union Army captain Josiah Eaton, but then sold the land to some African-American men who wanted to start their own city.
In 1882, Joseph C. Clarke bought some land from Mayor Josiah C. Eaton. He began selling a lot more
land to black families creating a city for a black community to form and create its own culture and town, without having to deal with the un-fair rules and acts of the white men.
Josiah Eaton
Mayor of Eatonville
Notable Events in it's History
Zora Neale Hurston was born here and is extremely well known.
The town was formed after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863
Industrial School was founded in 1897 which became the most important school for blacks in the state of Florida for years.
Eatonville was the first incorporated African-American community in the nation. Some 100 such communities were founded during the same era; only about a dozen remain.
240.2 miles
Joseph C. Clarke
Buyer of Eatonville
Life During the Early 1900's
It centered on Southern cotton agriculture. African Americans grew cotton under a variety of contracts and institutional arrangements.
Many were tenant farmers, renting a piece of land and some of their tools and supplies, and paying the rent at the end of the growing season with a portion of their harvest.
Records indicate that white and black farm laborers were paid similar wages, and that white and black farmers worked under similar contracts for similar rental rates. Whites in general, however, were much more likely to own land and blacks were much less likely to hold better-paying skilled jobs, and they were more likely to work for lower-paying companies.
The people in the town had really close family ties because they were all so close. During the great depression while many white families separated, black families were able to stick together.
Zora Neale Hurston
THE END
Industrial School
Est 1897
History of Eatonville, Florida