After suffering many years in obscurity, Hurston's work began to garner more critical attention in 1973. In that year, noted African-American author Alice Walker travelled to Alabama to find and mark Hurston's grave. This event marked the beginning of a renewed interest in Hurston's work.

"The Eatonville Anthology" has attracted critical attention for a variety of reasons. Initially, critics examined this story in relation to other anthologies such as Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters and Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. In his essay entitled "The Establishment of Community in Zora Neale Hurston's "The Eatonville Anthology' and Rolando Hinojosa's 'Estampas del valle'," critic Heiner Bus sees similarities between the works of such mainstream male writers and Hurston's story. The need for community and identity is felt particularly by minorities who live within a larger mainstream society, claims Bus. He writes: "The trust in the power of...