Established in 1887 by and for African Americans who sought to govern themselves, Eatonville holds the distinction of being the first Black community in the United States to incorporate and establish an all-Black municipal government. Between 1880 and 1930, hundreds of such communities were founded, but few remain, and Eatonville continues to thrive as a predominantly African American community. It is also known as the hometown of Zora Neale Hurston, the 20th-century writer, folklorist, and anthropologist whose writings made Eatonville internationally renowned as a center for African American culture. Hurston recalled Eatonville as a pure Black town with its own charter, mayor, council, and town marshal, and called it the first incorporated Black community and the first attempt at organized self-government by African Americans in the United States.
