Holding on to History

The outskirts of Orlando offer picturesque views of new high-rises stretching toward the sky as urban expansion unfolds. Travel just six miles north of downtown and smooth, paved roads give way to charming brick streets, signaling your arrival in the quaint town of Eatonville. The Eatonville Gateway, mounted on 30-foot brick pedestals, arches over the main street, welcoming visitors with its proud inscription: “The Town That Freedom Built. Oldest Incorporated African American Municipality in America.”

Eatonville, a town born from the dreams of freedmen during the Reconstruction era, offered African Americans a place to govern themselves and build a life free from the racial violence and oppression that defined the post-Civil War South. At 137 years old, Eatonville stands as a national historic district, embodying a legacy of racial progress and success immortalized in the works of the late Zora Neale Hurston, its most famous resident and a celebrated literary icon. Just 10 minutes from downtown Orlando and 30 minutes from Walt Disney World Resort, Eatonville’s location is just as valuable as its history, with its land value exceeding $20 million in 2019.

As Orlando’s rapid development engulfs nearby communities, Eatonville finds itself caught in the path. This increasing threat has led to the town being named one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2024 — the only site in the South to receive the designation.

Amid these challenges, Eatonville’s historical significance is championed by advocates like N.Y. Nathiri, a third-generation resident and executive director of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community (P.E.C.).

“I’m glad we’re having this discussion,” she says, settling into her chair to discuss the town’s intricate past and promising future — her bright red T-shirt from the 35th annual ZORA! Festival is a subtle nod to Eatonville’s importance as a cultural hub.

Established in 1990 by P.E.C. in collaboration with various organizations, the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities (ZORA! Festival) honors Hurston’s legacy, Eatonville’s history and cultural contributions of people of African ancestry. The 10-month season includ es art exhibitions, theater productions, public talks and an academic conference, culminating in a three-day Outdoor Festival of the Arts each January. Today, it’s Eatonville’s cultural centerpiece and the nation’s longest-running arts and humanities festival.

UCF’s College of Arts and Humanities has been a longtime supporter of the festival season, including the academic conference, which explores themes in African American history, literature and culture. UCF’s support was amplified in 2023-24 by two $10,000 Florida Humanities Community Project grants, reinforcing the university’s commitment to preserving and celebrating Eatonville’s rich heritage.

“This little piece of land we call Eatonville isn’t just another town in Orange County — it has a much larger footprint,” Nathiri says.

Creating a Community Against All Odds

After the Civil War ended in 1865, many formerly enslaved African Americans sought land to build new lives. Joseph Clark, a freedman from Georgia, settled near Maitland, Florida — about five miles north of present-day downtown Orlando — managing orange groves for Josiah Eaton, a white landowner and citrus entrepreneur.

Despite the challenges Black settlers faced in buying land, Clark convinced Eaton and philanthropist Lewis Lawrence to support his vision for an all-Black town. They deeded him and other Black men a large tract of land one mile west of Lake Maitland that would eventually become Eatonville — named after Josiah Eaton. By the time Eatonville was incorporated in 1887, its city limits had expanded to 112 acres, allowing African Americans to purchase lots in the town.

The town’s incorporation, led by 27 freed Black men including Clark, was extraordinary. Following Reverend Columbus Boger Sr.’s tenure as Eatonville’s first mayor (1887-88), Clark became the town’s second mayor and actively encouraged Black families to own land and put down roots. The community flourished, with new residents building homes and creating spaces for churches and businesses. Men worked in citrus groves or started small businesses, while women worked in nearby towns and on family farms.

By the early 20th century, Eatonville had become a thriving community, fulfilling Clark’s vision as a place where African Americans could embrace their freedom and pursue their aspirations.

The distinctive township sparked the curiosity of Scot French, associate professor of digital and public history, and associate director of UCF’s Center for Humanities and Digital Research.

A public historian with 25 years of experience, French has published extensively on African American history and memory sites. After joining UCF in 2011 and moving to Maitland, French grew curious about the historic relationship between Maitland and Eatonville, and devoted himself to exploring it. Since 2018, he has curated three local exhibits on Hurston’s ties to Central Florida and published several articles on Eatonville’s founding era.

Foundations of Connection and Culture

Established in 1889, the Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School was one of Eatonville’s earliest and most important institutions. The school attracted students from across Florida and even nearby states, providing academic and vocational education for grades six through 12.

“My mother’s father built the home for [R.C. Calhoun], the first principal of the Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School. That’s how my family knew to come to Eatonville,” Nathiri says, emphasizing the school’s influence.

Local Black children attended as day students, while others boarded at the 304-acre campus, which featured a dining hall, library, chapel, workshops and farmland. The curriculum included subjects like English, biology, carpentry, agriculture and dressmaking, with technical courses added as the 20th century progressed. Students were also assigned chores, instilling a sense of responsibility through maintaining Hungerford facilities and farmland.

By 1927, enrollment exceeded 100 boarding students and, by 1936, African American students from Winter Park, Florida, could attend via bus.

In 1946, Eatonville further expanded its cultural impact with Club Eaton, one of the first major nightclubs for African Americans that welcomed music legends like James Brown, Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King and Tina Turner. During segregation, the venue provided a platform for Black entertainers in the South, becoming a cornerstone of the community’s cultural life, much like Hungerford was for education.

The Price of Progress

Nathiri’s childhood memories of Eatonville reflect a vibrant, close-knit community where neighbors gathered for backyard barbecues and friendships ran deep.

“I’d … visit local business owners and family friends — Mr. and Mrs. Mack Robinson, the Reeds, my godmother — because that’s just what you did,” she says.

Today, Eatonville remains largely residential, with its traditional homes nestled among modern municipal buildings. However, the town now wrestles with a shifting landscape and evolving culture, which challenge the sense of community that once defined it.

“For the sake of Eatonville … the voices of those who actually live in the community and face the impact of those changes should be paramount.”

Gentrification and resource extraction have strained Eatonville, which is home to about 2,300 residents. The median household income is around $29,000 a year. A Family Dollar is the only store. There’s no supermarket, gas station or pharmacy — not even a high school.

The once-prominent Hungerford saw a decline in boarding students by the 1940s. In 1951, Hungerford trustees sold the 304-acre property to Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) under the condition that it be used to educate Black children. OCPS converted the site into the Robert Hungerford Preparatory High School, a segregated public school for Black students. But by 2009, the school board closed Hungerford due to declining enrollment and high operational costs, and in 2020, the remaining buildings were demolished, leaving a significant void in Eatonville’s history.

Mobilizing Citizen-driven Change

Because of its prime geographic location within the expanding Orlando area, Eatonville faces considerable challenges, says Gramond McPherson ’19MA, a history alum who authored a 2017 extended essay on infrastructural citizenship in Eatonville. His research emphasizes the role of civic engagement in shaping the town’s infrastructure.

“For the sake of Eatonville … the voices of those who actually live in the community and face the impact of those changes should be paramount,” he says. “Civic engagement by residents is also important to be aware of what is occurring in [the] community.”

Eatonville’s residents have a long history of involvement in the town’s development, from land purchases in the 19th century to modern-day protests against high-priced projects.

One example of community activism occurred in 1987, when Orange County proposed to widen Eatonville’s main road, Kennedy Boulevard. Nathiri led the charge, rallying residents to form P.E.C.

“I became the spokesperson,” Nathiri says, “and that’s how I got involved with historic preservation, working at the local level, then at the state and the national level.”

Since then, development threats have continued to loom, particularly after the Orange County School Board opened bids in 2016 on the remaining 100 acres of the Hungerford property, sparking a wave of development proposals.

In 2022, Sovereign Land Company proposed developing the vacant land into 350 housing units priced between $400,000 and $600,000 — well above Eatonville’s median home value of $245,000. The $14.6 million project also included plans for retail space, restaurants and a grocery store. However, residents voiced their concerns and advocated for the land to be transferred to the town in a public trust, allowing the community to determine its best use.

“The controversy with the 100-acre Hungerford property reintroduced us to a new generation of [community activists],” Nathiri says, “like Julian Johnson, who wasn’t even born when we fought the road [proposal].”

Johnson has called Eatonville home since he was nine months old. Now 31, he credits his strong sense of identity and passion for Black culture to his upbringing in the town.

“[Growing up], there was a sense of community, rich culture and deep roots,” he says.

“The controversy with the 100-acre Hungerford property reintroduced us to a new generation of [community activists].”

After learning of the development proposal, Johnson founded 1887 First to preserve Eatonville’s history, foster unity and drive progress. The organization worked with P.E.C. to inform residents about council meetings, distributing flyers and gathering input on land use. Community requests included a grocery store, an event center and a cultural heritage museum.

In March 2023, P.E.C., with the support of the Southern Poverty Law Center, filed a lawsuit to affirm the validity of the 1951 deed restriction on the remaining property and challenge the school board’s failure to ensure the land’s use for educational purposes.

Shortly after, Sovereign Land Company withdrew from the project, signaling a victory for local activism.

“When we stopped that battle [over the development of the last 100 acres of the Hungerford property], we really gained the most respect from the people here in Eatonville,” Johnson says.

Nathiri echoes this sentiment.

“Our mission [as P.E.C.] is to protect, preserve and promote Eatonville,” she says. “We have gained a lot of credibility because, in [residents’] minds, we helped save the town. We [have] kept it from being overdeveloped since the early ’90s up to now.”

Prosperity Through Cultural Heritage Tourism

As awareness of Eatonville’s unique history has grown, interest from potential donors and major funders has poured in, while support from politicians has strengthened. Town hall meetings, once sparsely attended, are now overflowing with engaged residents.

Additionally, Eatonville attracts tens of thousands of visitors for the ZORA! Festival each year.

Nathiri and others envision building on these efforts by leveraging cultural heritage tourism to bring new, year-round economic vitality to the town.

“Eatonville has the ability to become a 21st century American model for … a community that, [despite being considered] a low socioeconomic community, has the ability to experience economic prosperity because of its rich heritage, and cultural and literary resources,” Nathiri says. “We’re focused on meeting the existing multibillion-dollar cultural heritage tourism market.”

Cultural heritage tourism is a booming and expanding market, with 78% of U.S. leisure travelers participating in cultural and heritage activities while traveling, and spending an average of $994 per trip, according to a Mandela Research study. As Orlando is a top tourist destination, attracting 74 million visitors in 2022, nearby communities like Eatonville are well-positioned to benefit from this trend.

Tadayuki Hara, associate professor at the UCF Rosen College of Hospitality Management and vice president of P.E.C., sees Eatonville evolving into a dynamic alternative tourism destination within Orange County.

“Most of [Orlando’s tourists] are leisure travelers who go to Walt Disney World Resort, Universal [Orlando Resort] and … other theme parks,” he says. With Orlando being a major tourism destination, “it’s always better to have different portfolios of tourism assets.”

“There [are] little things that you can still see today of the eminent, glorious, deep heritage of Eatonville. We have to amplify that.”

Over the past 15 years with P.E.C., Hara has held various roles, including board member, treasurer and currently vice president. Drawing on his 17 years of experience in banking, he has managed the organization’s finances while developing strategies to generate revenue for its projects, such as the ZORA! Festival.

“There [are] little things that you can still see today of the eminent, glorious, deep heritage of Eatonville. We have to amplify that,” Hara says. “One example is with our cultural heritage walking tour of Eatonville.”

Eatonville is home to two museum spaces, including the Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts, also known as The Hurston. Established in 1990 and run by P.E.C., the 700-square-foot art gallery showcases works of artists of African descent. Expanding the town’s museum offerings could encourage tourists to extend their stays.

This year, Eatonville was one of three finalists for the construction of the Florida Museum of Black History. However, in June 2024, a state task force advised by Florida A&M University’s School of Architecture and Engineering Technology ultimately recommended St. Augustine as the site for the museum.

“No worries,” Nathiri says with a relaxed smile, “Our future isn’t wrapped up in a Florida African American history museum. We have the assets — we just need some investment. We’ve demonstrated the ability to put heads in beds.”

Collective Ideas for a Brighter Future

Andrea Radbill, an interior designer and educational leadership graduate student specializing in history, combined her passion for museums with her coursework to create a strategic plan for a community-led history museum in Eatonville. As her final project in her public history class, Radbill’s work explored the significance of Black history museums in America.

Her presentation included timelines, economic data, operational logistics and professional insights from Deborah Omowale Jarmon, founder of the San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum in Texas. Together, these elements shaped a vision for a community-driven museum that could honor and celebrate Eatonville’s cultural heritage, complete with ample parking for tour buses and visitors if built on the Hungerford land.

“A community-led museum could preserve the history of Eatonville … [and allow its residents] to control the historic narrative,” she says.

Projects like Radbill’s are the product of French’s graduate-level public history classes, which focus on Eatonville and Hungerford.

“Recent events, [such as the 100-acre battle and the history museum proposal], have added an incredible energy to the work we’re doing in the classroom,” French says. “My students are incredibly inspired.”

During the 2023-24 academic year, students in French’s History in the Digital Age and Introduction to Public History classes participated in what he calls a “Hungerford School History Harvest.” This ongoing initiative includes community events where students scan school-related artifacts for a Hungerford-themed digital collection and conduct on-camera interviews with Eatonville residents and Hungerford alumni while gathering information.

“Recent events, [such as the 100-acre battle and the history museum proposal], have added an incredible energy to the work we’re doing in the classroom. My students are incredibly inspired.”

The project encourages students to listen to the voices of those directly affected, while empowering them to actively contribute to the preservation of the town’s history, French says.

Several students shared their work at the Florida Historical Society annual meeting at UCF in October and will present at the National Council on Public History annual conference in Montreal in March 2025.

French also leads impactful projects of his own.

As chair of the ZORA! Festival’s Academics Committee and local organizer for the ZORA! Festival Academic Conference, French created a companion syllabus that invites scholars, students, teachers and the public to explore the concept of Afrofuturism through recorded keynote presentations and panels from 2020 to 2024. French even adapted the syllabus for a one-credit course: Afrofuturism and the Hurston Legacy. In January 2025, he will introduce a new five-year thematic cycle on place and placemaking, which will include a student research poster session featuring UCF digital and public history student projects.

“My ultimate aim is for us to develop a series of virtual, interactive exhibits for display online and inclusion in a community-based history museum,” he says.

A Legacy Worth Saving

The effort to preserve Eatonville continues, with the community’s resilience echoing the enduring spirit of its founders.

Although recognition by the National Trust for Historic Preservation has brought much-needed attention to the cause, there’s still work to be done. Ongoing efforts include restoring historic sites, developing a community-based museum, and expanding cultural tourism through events like the ZORA! Festival and the newly introduced 1887 Night Market.

To better serve the community, Julian’s organization, 1887 First, launched the 1887 Night Market — a monthly fresh produce marketplace that helps combat food scarcity and improves access to diverse food options for Eatonville residents and people throughout Central Florida.

“There [are] little things that you can still see today of the eminent, glorious, deep heritage of Eatonville. We have to amplify that.”

“[The 1887 Night Market] has been an economic engine for [our community],” Johnson says. “We’ve been able to help small Black business owners in Eatonville, providing them with an opportunity to showcase their business. We have found that every business we’ve brought in since we started has tripled their [earnings].”

Despite only three events so far, the market has drawn 800 to 1,200 attendees per event, with plans to expand.

“I hope in the future when people [talk about] what they enjoy most about Eatonville, they’ll say the night market,” he says.

As Hurston wrote in her 1942 autobiography Dust Tracks on a Road, through education, organization and determination, the people of Eatonville have learned to “grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear,” creating a hopeful path of renewal for future generations.