Black Facts: Eatonville, Florida and Other Black Towns

I recently visited my cousin who lives in Winter Park, Florida. She drove me around and showed me the area, lakes, houses, parks and historical sites. We rode through the town of Eatonville, Florida. Eatonville, incorporated in 1887, is considered to be one of the first black American towns. Being as I had never heard of it before visiting my cousin, I was definitely interested in this town’s story. I was able to get a couple snapshots, but nothing substantial. My cousin, however, attended a historic walking tour in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Zora Neale Hurston in Eatonville, where she was able to get some good pictures, which I will be sharing in this post.

In my research of looking up little known black facts, I discovered that there is a few different towns claiming to be the “first” black incorporated town. I appreciate how Eatonville’s website says it is one of instead of the first. There is a town called Allensworth located in California that was labeled as the first Black town in an article I read. I can only assume the person who wrote the article did not do their research. Allensworth, founded in 1908, was the first Black California town. I, of course, felt the need to dig deeper and put in the search, “What was the first black town?” Eatonville was the first town to pop up. Cute, but we all know to not use the first thing that pops up in Google. As I scrolled down, Brooklyn, Illinois came up next. Brooklyn is labeled as the “first” as well and they may actually be able to claim that title. Brooklyn, Illinois was started in the 1820s and incorporated in 1873, fifteen years before Eatonville and thirty-five years before Allensworth.

Here is a link for continued reading on Allensworth, California,

https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/allensworth-california-state-archives/mQLiVfAd-6y4JA?hl=en

Here is a link if you are interested in reading more about Brooklyn, Illinois,

http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/Brooklyn/index2.html

Now, I still didn’t want to overlook any other towns, so I continued to scroll. Yep, another one popped up. Now, to give this town some credit, they did not say they were the first incorporated town, just the first town. This is starting to become a mess. Mose, located in Florida, was stated as the first legally sanctioned black town established in 1738 for runaway slaves. Now, if we are skipping the incorporated part, I believe that Mose, Florida is the winner as the first black town. Here is a link to read more about Mose,

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/histarch/research/st-augustine/fort-mose/

Back to Eatonville. Eatonville was a town founded by newly freed slaves from Georgia, Alabama and some other northern states in 1880. The cornerstones of early Eatonville were church, school and family. St. Lawrence African Methodist Episcopal Church was the first Black church in the area.

Eatonville was the birthplace of novelist Zora Neale Hurston.

Here is the link to the town’s website. You can read about the town’s history and current events on this site,

http://www.townofeatonville.org/about/

At this point, I don’t know who the clear “first” was and I am sure if I keep looking, I will find more. What I do know is, Black people were fighters. They were resilient in the face of adversity and had a strong desire to make the best of a horrible (and this is an understatement) situation. You can find Black History in every state of this country, if you look. Stories that don’t just involve slavery. Black history is so much more than that and always has been. During this Black History Month, let’s learn a little history and do some of our own research. Stay well and whole. Much Love 🧡💚