Founded in the 1880s, Eatonville, FL was the first all-African American town to be incorporated in the U.S. It is also the childhood home of writer Zora Neale Hurston. Today, the community strives to balance its history and the future.
"Eatonville has long been defined as a paradox of triumph and struggle. It is both a historic model of black empowerment and a community of nearly 2,400 where the poverty rates are twice the national average. It is a literary hub but also an oak-shaded example of rural Southern black culture - sometimes disdained, sometimes praised - that was born of American slavery. Not surprisingly, residents here are both proud and protective."
"[I]n many ways, the town [Zora Neale Hurston] described - and made a tourist stop by including it in the Florida travel guide produced by the Depression-era Federal Writers' Project - remains a place apart. It is as independent, dignified and private as it was in the 1930s, when Hurston wrote that rural blacks in Florida often resisted sharing their true thoughts with the white man, who 'knowing so little about us, he doesn't know what he is missing.'"
FULL STORY: In a Town Apart, the Pride and Trials of Black Life
The Tulsa Race Massacre: A Century Later
On the hundred-year anniversary of the violence that destroyed Tulsa's "Black Wall Street," the country is finally reckoning with the legacy of one of the most destructive racially motivated riots in U.S. history.
Inside the National Museum of African American History
Sights and scenes from the inside of Washington, D.C.'s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Gentrification and the Bay Area's Controversial Growth Management Plan
Is gentrification the inevitable result of land use planning that reduces greenhouse gas emissions by favoring infill development over auto-dependent sprawl? The Urban Displacement Project looks at the unintended effects of Plan Bay Area.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.
Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.
Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.
MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.
Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie