By the early 20th Century, Eatonville had become what was originally envisioned, a community that gave African Americans the chance to live as they desired and independent of white society. Located just three miles from downtown Orlando, Eatonville was named after Josiah Eaton, a white landowner who along with Lewis Lawrence donated the property that would become Eatonville. The Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School was founded in 1897 to provide education for Legacy: After the Civil War, freed black slaves began establishing communities to escape the indignities of racism. Eatonville, the first all-black town to incorporate in the country and the childhood home of Zora Neale Hurston, is no longer as simple as she described it in 1935: "the city of five lakes, three. Appearances can be deceiving. Yet, she says that Joe Clark and others, the others who were a part of this settlement, had a bigger dream.That dream was realized in August 1887 when Eatonville became our nations first incorporated Black community. Eatonville also has immensely strong literary roots. At that time, segregation in the South provided few opportunities for non-whites. 2023 Cox Media Group. The trouble is, the town doesn't own it, and never has. ", Another speaker, Otis Mitchell, said, "For y'all to come and put all this stuff up here and think we as Black people going to be able to stay here? Incorporated in 1887 by twenty-seven Black men, the town served as a beacon of freedom and autonomy to Black Floridians and other Black Southerners living through the racial violence and oppression of the Reconstruction era. The population was 2,159 at the 2010 census. [7] Since the original purchase, OCPS has petitioned the courts multiple times to reduce the number of acres required to be used for the education of black children from 300 to 100 with OCPS receiving almost $8 million. He was the mayor of Maitland and to name Eatonville after this mayor, the former mayor of Maitland was to say it has the blessing of all the better classes in this area, French said. AND HE IMAGINED THAT FLORIDA HAD GREAT POTENTIAL AND THAT IT COULD BE THE MOST NORTHERN ESYE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. Twelve of these works are at the Maitland Art Center in the adjacent town of Maitland. >> SO, THEY FOUGHT IT AND ONE. An article in the Tallahassee Weekly Floridian newspaper titled, "A Negro Colony in Florida" stated, "A negro settlement has been established at Maitlandwhich is divided into forty-eight lots, 50x50 feet, to be sold to negroes at from $19 to $30 per lot. Eatonville, Florida, is the oldest black-incorporated municipality in the United States. "They really profited from it, from those sales," said King. Town of Eatonville. Eatonville also has immensely strong literary roots. Developer drops land purchase in historically Black town - Yahoo News Yet, she says that Joe Clark and others, the others who were a part of this settlement, had a bigger dream. Photo: Florida Memory, Hontoon Changling: The ancient owl carving that represents the wrong tribe, The Fierce Competition for Rollins College, Burdine's: Sunshine Fashions & The Florida Store, Follow the Dollar - Horse breeding brings big money to Central Florida, In Cassadaga, the Seance Room is where they talk to the dead, St. Petersburg leaders worked overtime to promote their city, Paradise for Sale: Florida's Booms and Busts, Feature - Collected Works of South Florida pioneer Byrd Spilman Dewey, Facebook links - Spring Breakers riot in Fort Lauderdale, Secret Florida life of the author of one of SF's greatest novels, Casey Stengel was a Daytona Beach troublemaker, Daytona's Deadliest Air Crash: Aug. 10, 1937, Blog - Zora Neale Hurston's Life on Florida's East Coast, Blog - Washtub baths and pot-bellied stoves in 1930s Florida, Click here for morefrom this day in Florida history. Eatonville, FL >> TO NAME EATONLLVIE AFTER THIS MAYOR, I THINK THAT WAS PROTECTIVE. ITS PLACE IN THE ECONOMY DIMINISHED. OR YOU COULD FIND YOURSELF IN ONE OF THE FSEREBLE ACK COMMUNITIES. Townspeople built one-story wood frame houses with two or three rooms on their lots. All across the United States. It's who we are. King to Aretha Franklin, the young local Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, The Platters, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and James Brown. Clark would become Eatonville's mayor. 2023, Hearst Television Inc. on behalf of WESH-TV. They were important in the founding of the city, Nathiri said. When you walk into its post office, you cant help but feel an old-timey, small-town charm, in part because they only accept cash. Eatonville is a town in Orange County, Florida, United States, six miles north of Orlando. Here's how to get it. Founded in the 1880s, Eatonville, FL was the first all-African American town to be incorporated in the U.S. Founded by Chef Jenn Ross, DaJen Eats Cafe has become a restaurant to watch for vegan cuisine. Today, what was once a sprawling campus is practically empty. "If we aren't careful, Eatonville is going to be extinct," she said. Lawrence built and donated a church to the community even before it was a town. St. Lawrence A.M.E. Church was originally built in the early 1880s. However, Franklin can remember when that line wasnt so imaginary. Eatonville, Florida (1887- ) - Blackpast Story produced by Robbyn McFadden. The racial makeup of the town was 89.31% African American, 7.5% White, 0.49% Native American, 0.29% Asian, 1.56% from other races, and 0.82% from two or more races. An unprecedented week at the Supreme Court, Neil Diamond on "A Beautiful Noise," Parkinson's, and being thankful, July 2, and the end of apartheid in America, withdrew their bid and terminated the purchase agreement, Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts, Black Settlements in America (Everett Fly), Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, "Eatonville Renaissance" 10-Year Initiative, Excellence Without Excuse Community Computer Arts Lab & Learning Center. Men found year-round employment with the numerous citrus groves surrounding Eatonville, working as pickers, pruners, and in packinghouses. But then another fight, this time plans for a medical waste incinerator plant. But freedmen and their families were persistent and eventually succeeded in forming a town of their own in Central Florida. And so this was entirely an African American-founded Township. Eatonville History. There are newspaper articles about Eatonville, not a single white person in town of governed entirely by African Americans. >> EACH BATTLE FOUGHT, EACH BATTLE WON. Municipal organization was not easy for African Americans. Or you could find yourself in one of these free Black communities, McCall said.Recently freed Black people who made their way to Central Florida often found work in citrus groves, as was the case for Joe Clark, who along with others came to the area with the idea theyd begin a colony for colored people. In one respect, you were self-segregating this Black community that was able to preserve itself. VIDEO: Eatonville: The town that freedom built, a history of Americas first incorporated Black town, Police arrest 16-year-old in connection to Monday night DeLand shooting, Orange County deputies investigate Tuesday night shooting, victim found in car, The Florida Mall in Orlando announces wave of newcomers to open later this year, OIAs Terminal C getting new pedestrian with help of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Owner of Seminole Towne Center mall in Sanford owes more than $800K in property taxes. And despite being an overwhelmingly Black town, racism still penetrated their community, like when Ku Klux Klan members showed up at one of the towns parades in the middle of the day without their masks. So what that means is that it was the oldest Black town to be recognized by the United States government as a self-governing, self-determining Black community, McCall said. Eatonville has no gas station, supermarket or drug store; only a Family Dollar. The site of the Hungerford School, which served Black students in the segregation South. Eatons name lives on with the town in the most obvious fashion. The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox. In 1951, the Orange County School Board bought Hungerford from the trust that owned it, for a little over $16,000. So they fought it and won. >> THERE WERE 27 AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN WHO SIGNED THAT CHARTER, AND THEY WENT TO GREAT LENGTHS TO MAKE SURE PEOEPL UNDERSTOOD THAT THIS WAS SOMETHING THAT WAS ACCEPTED TO THE PEOPLE OF MAITLANDS A WELL, THAT THEY HAD THE BACKING OF PROMINENT WHITE CITIZENS. The land was still covered in thickets of dense woods, with rattlesnakes and possums outnumbering the areas settlers. In the 1880s two white men, Josiah Eaton and Lewis Lawrence, who lived in Maitland bought some of the land with the goal of selling it at reasonable prices to Black men. They describe how they are not able to buy land. Located just a few miles north of Orlando, Eatonville was founded by three Union officers: Captain Josiah Eaton, Captain Lewis Lawrence, and another officer whose name is unknown. Incorporated on August 15, 1887, it was one of the first self-governing all-black municipalities in the United States. During the land frenzy, newly-freed slaves from throughout the south drifted into Central Florida. An important influence on Hurstons works and writings, Eatonville is an unassuming town in appearance but has a remarkably rich history. There were 858 housing units at an average density of 871.2 per square mile (336.4/km2). Eatonville holds a significant place in U.S. history for its self-rule during segregation that has continued to this day, its famed private school that educated generations of Black students, and the proud welcome its performance venue, Club Eaton, offered to Black musical greats including B.B. THERE IS THIS BUILDIFNG O PRIDE FROM A VERY YOUNG AGE. Thousands come to Eatonville every year for the week-long arts and humanities festival known as the Zora! A year after incorporation, there were "discussions of separation as a peaceful, progressive-minded, mutually beneficial solution to the so-called 'race problem'.[8] While sources seem to disagree on the exact date and year of the town's incorporation, the town's official site provides a detailed account of the process and the dates.[9][7]. Read: Publix to reopen online reservation system for COVID-19 vaccines. >> SO, WHAT ATTH MEANS IS THAT IT WAS THE OLDEST BLACK TOWN TO BE RECOGNIZED BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AS A SELF-GOVERNING,EL SF-DETERMINING BLACK COMMUNITY. White property owners refused to sell them land, until Clark convinced two White Northerners with homes in the area, Lewis Lawrence and Josiah Eaton, to make available plots they could buy in what became Eatonville, one of the first Black towns to incorporate. With a median household income of $27,000, the town is struggling to survive.[7]. And they wanted everyone to know about it. The significance of Eatonvilles incorporation would be proudly advertised by its citizens. Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. Today, folks can visit the Zora Neale Hurston Museum or the library named in her honor. Artist Jules Andre Smith has done a series of paintings depicting life in Eatonville during the 1930s and 1940s. It's everything from, 'Oh, it's not important,' or 'They won't know the difference if we move them out or erase them, no one's gonna do anything.'". A community with a past and present that coexist and a future constantly being reimagined. Programs for drafting and radio were added during the 1940s. Zora Neale Hurston, the internationally-acclaimed anthropologist, folklorist, and novelist who is best known for her novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, lived in Eatonville as a child and considered the locale her hometown. Today, what was one a sprawling campus is practically empty. No liquor is ever to be sold or given away on the ground; no gambling or disreputable house of any kind will ever be allowed, under a forfeiture of the purchase. It is proud of its place as the nations oldest incorporated all-black community and as the hometown of an American literary legend. Free Black people cleared land, planted groves and helped build Maitland. The Republican-led federal government retaliated against such activity with stringent legislation. Additionally, a seemingly ongoing threat of gentrification. This was the only place for blacks for entertainment, Maitland resident Louise Franklin recalls. Residents of historically Black town sue to stop land sale - Yahoo News The district is bounded by Wymore Road, Eaton Street, Fords, and East Avenues, Ruffel, and Clark Streets. Last month, the town council met to vote on changes that would clear the way for a new "community" of more than 350 homes and apartments. So that kind of animosity that did exist and that destroyed Rosewood that animosity that drove the Black people out of Ocoee did not exist in terms of the relationship with Maitland and Eatonville.. It's really people who had had to decide where to go, French said. They named the town in honor of Josiah Eaton who eventually also served as its mayor. Haydon Burns says his plane trailed by UFO, April 26, 1920 - Crop shippers seizing ice, creating shortage, April 27, 1969 - 1,000 students help during FSU admin building fire, April 28, 1985 - World's tallest sand sculpture built at Treasure Island, April 29, 1980 - U.S. braces for magnitude of Mariel Boatlift, April 30, 1915 - Broward County created, named after former governor, Orange County History Center: 75th anniversary of Gone With The Wind, Adopt Your Duck at Dunedin History Museum, Mandarin Museum Welcomes Military Families as a Blue Star Museum, Orange County History Center seeking submissions for icons exhibition, Museum of Seminole County History announces Paranormal Tour, School District of Palm Beach County - Hatian Heritage Month events planned, Fort Lauderdale Historical Society - launches effort to save 1905 New River Inn, Orange County Regional History Center honoring Judge Belvin Perry Jr. at John Young History Maker Awards, Fort Lauderdale Historical Society - New Exhibit shows how South Floridans Beat the Heat before AC, Orange County Regional History Center - Events and Exhbitions, Lake County Historical Society Grand Opening, Mandarin Historical Society - The Maple Leaf 150th Anniversary Exhibit, Miami Design Preservation League newsletter, Orange County Regional History Center events, Amelia Island Museum of History wants to show off your collection, Amelia Island Museum of History's Patron Perks Tour Going to Sapelo Island, Georgia. Learn about careers at Cox Media Group. Hungerford, resulting in the school being named in memory of his son, a doctor who died while treating sick black children in Louisiana. Mr. Lawrence has erected on this land a framed church 30x20 feet, a bell for which has been presented by the Congregational Sabbath School of Chelsea, Connecticut. Editor: Carol Ross. Or you could find yourself in one of these free Black communities, McCall said. So we know from the only surviving issue of the Eatonville Speaker, which is published by Joe Clark and others, they tell the story of how Eatonville came to be.

Caroline County Last Day Of School, Randolph County Tax Commissioner, Coahoma Softball Schedule, Blackwood Homes For Sale, Articles W