Located about 250 miles southeast of Tallahassee is the oldest incorporated African American-founded municipality. Eatonville, Florida, was incorporated on Aug. 15, 1887, just 49 days before the founding of Florida A&M University.
Eatonville is commonly recognized as the hometown of American author, filmmaker and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. The city lies six miles north of Orlando.
Friday marks Eatonville’s 35th annual Outdoor Festival of The Arts: ZORA! The festival celebrates the cultural contributions of people of African ancestry throughout the diaspora.
ZORA! organizers aim to increase attendance among HBCU students. Just last year, the festival appointed Florida A&M graduate Jaylen Christie to oversee media relations.
Christie is an award-winning writer, actor, cartoonist and public relations expert. He is also a 2010 graduate of FAMU’s School of Journalism & Graphic Communication.
Christie emphasized the festival’s cultural significance and historic value in relation to the HBCU community.
“The festival is unapologetically Black, which, quite frankly, is right up my alley. I believe for an HBCU student, this kind of celebration — the foods, the sights, the sounds — is needed. Plus, it’s taking place in Eatonville, the oldest Black municipality in America, which was incorporated in 1887, the same exact year as the founding of FAMU. If that’s not reason enough for an HBCU grad to attend then I don’t know what is,” Christie said.
This festival’s significance goes beyond entertainment, vendor pop-ups and food, however.
N.Y. Nathiri, executive director for the Association to Preserve Eatonville Community and Zora Neal Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts, described the festival’s founding as a strategic response to protect Eatonville. She has been instrumental in the festival’s establishment and ongoing sustainability.
ZORA! was established in response to Orange County officials trying to dismantle it to make way for a five-lane roadway.
“We were fighting for our lives. Orange County in 1987 unanimously passed a resolution to disenfranchise our community. People in Orange County didn’t know about Zora Neale Hurston. They thought of Eatonville as just another ‘nigger’ town. They had no idea of the historic role Eatonville played in America’s history,” Nathiri said.
Black spaces being displaced, dismantled and destroyed are a common occurrence throughout history. Nathiri stressed the importance of community, particularly within students attending HBCUs.
“America works on group dynamics. This festival allows students in real-time and in an emotional way to seize the connection between student population and the ability for a community to thrive,” she said.
The 35th annual ZORA! festival will kick off its Outdoor Festival of the Arts Friday in Eatonville. HBCU students can receive a 10% discount on general admissions tickets with a valid student ID.
For additional information about the festival’s weekend of events, visit zorafestival.org