Eatonville
Eatonville
A Story of America’s First Black Town (Pre-order, May 11 2027)
Zora Neale HurstonCouldn't load pickup availability
Eatonville is a stunning picture book adaptation of a chapter from Zora Neale Hurston’s autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road, by the #1 New York Times bestselling and National Book Award winning author, Ibram X. Kendi. With remarkable illustrations by Coretta Scott King–John Steptoe Award-winner, Briana Mukodiri Uchendu, this is the story of how Hurston's home became one of America's first Black towns.
In 1887, the first Black incorporated town in the U.S., Eatonville, was born.
Zora Neale Hurston’s 1942 autobiography opens to this time and place, the material that made her. A small area in Maitland, Florida was built by the hands of free Black people who settled there in 1880. The migrants cleared land, built homes, and laid the railroad system. All there was left to do was to establish the town as their own.
By what Zora calls hitting a straight lick with a crooked stick—by changing the course of history for Black land ownership—the tenacious townspeople of Eatonville created the home that cultivated the brilliant and beautiful mind of young Zora.
Kendi’s lyrical and illuminating adaptation introduces young readers to the history of Black resilience, sovereignty, and autonomy. Accompanied by Uchendu’s deeply resonant and warm illustrations, Eatonville is sure to be cherished forever.
Be sure to check out other books by Zora Neale Hurston and Ibram X. Kendi for kids!
Magnolia Flower
The Making of Butterflies
Barracoon Adapted for Young Readers
The Power of Our
Zora Neale Hurston wrote four novels (Jonah’s Gourd Vine; Their Eyes Were Watching God; Moses, Man of the Mountains; and Seraph on the Suwanee) and was still working on her fifth novel, The Life of Herod the Great, when she died; three books of folklore (Mules and Men and the posthumously published Go Gator and Muddy the Water and Every Tongue Got to Confess); a work of anthropological research (Tell My Horse); an autobiography (Dust Tracks on a Road); an international bestselling ethnographic work (Barracoon); and over fifty short stories, essays, and plays. She was born in Notasulga, Alabama, grew up in Eatonville, Florida, and lived her last years in Fort Pierce, Florida.
Ibram X. Kendi is a National Book Award–winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author. His books include Antiracist Baby; Goodnight Racism; How to Be an Antiracist; and How to Raise an Antiracist. Kendi was the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University and the Director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research for five years, before leaving to become Director of the Howard University Institute for Advanced Study in 2025. In 2020, Time magazine named Kendi one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was also awarded a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship.
Briana Mukodiri Uchendu is a Coretta Scott King–John Steptoe Award–winning illustrator, a visual development artist, and a first-generation Nigerian American. Her work is inspired by her interests in folklore, film, and animation and her passion to highlight voices that usually go unheard. Briana is a graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design, where she majored in illustration. She is the illustrator of The Talk, a Coretta Scott King author honor book; We Could Fly, written by Rhiannon Giddens; and Soul Step, written by Jewel Parker Rhodes. She currently lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas. You can connect with her at mukoart.com.
- Publisher: Amistad Books for Young Readers
- Publish Date: May 11, 2027
- Pages: 40
- Language: English
- Type: Hardcover
- EAN/UPC: 9780063098381
- Dimensions: 11.3 in H | 11.3 in W | 0.5 in T | 0.9 lb Wt
- BISAC: Juvenile Nonfiction / Biography & Autobiography / Literary
Juvenile Nonfiction / Biography & Autobiography / Women
Juvenile Nonfiction / African American & Black
Juvenile Nonfiction / Social Science / Politics & Government
Juvenile Nonfiction / History / United States / 19Th Century
Juvenile Nonfiction / Places / United States
