"Why Not Us?"
The Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community: The Early Years, 1987-97

Exhibit Opening Reception & Gallery Talk 

How did the economically and politically marginalized citizens of Eatonville, Florida -- popularly known as “the oldest incorporated African-American municipality in America -- organize themselves and their allies to stop a county road-widening project and secure the town's placement on the National Register of Historic Places? What are the lessons and legacies of that struggle?

This exhibit, based on new scholarly research, will place the founding and early years of Preserve Eatonville Community (P.E.C.) Inc., 1987-97, within the larger context of African American town-building and community organizing in Central Florida.

Curator: Scot A. French, Associate Professor/Director of Public History, UCF
Researcher: Gramond McPherson, M.A. History Degree Candidate, UCF

Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts
227 E Kennedy Blvd, Eatonville, FL 32751

Exhibition Dates:
January 20-August 3, 2018