1887 - The Town of Eatonville was established as the FIRST Incorporated African-American municipality in the United States on this date. 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. Author, folklorist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston grew up in the town and immortalized it in her 1937 novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” Every year since 1990, the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community hosts a Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities to celebrate the town’s history and the lasting impact of Hurston’s work.