Eatonville is the hometown of Zora Neale Hurston and the setting for much of the first part of the memoir. Hurston's descriptions of the town emphasize its unusual history as one of the first towns incorporated by African Americans, along with its natural beauty. Hurston writes in her memoir that the town was established jointly through the cooperation of African Americans and whites who lived in Maitland, a town that had the distinction of having a black mayor and other black officials despite its racially-mixed population.

According to Hurston, there was little friction between African Americans and whites in Eatonville, so much so that Hurston's childhood was one that was relatively free of the direct experiences of racism that are so frequently rites of passage for African-American children. The town is thus associated with racial harmony and black success.

After her dismissal from school, Hurston was forced to return home and to support herself financially, so she had to discontinue her formal education, a difficult sacrifice given that she had been such a bright student. It was during this difficult period that Hurston found a ragged copy of the works of English poet John Milton in a garbage heap.