Content deleted Content added
Tags: Reverted Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
GreenC bot (talk | contribs) Removed 4 archive links. Wayback Medic 2.5 per WP:URLREQ#tampabay.com |
||
(47 intermediate revisions by 29 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = Rosewood massacre
| partof = [[mass racial violence in the United States]] and the [[nadir of American race relations]]
| image = Rosewood Florida rc12408.jpg
| alt = =A photograph of ashes from a burned building with several people standing nearby and trees in the distance
| caption = The remains of Sarah Carrier's house, where two
| map = {{Location map | Florida#USA
| alt = Levy County
| lat_deg = 29.233333
Line 13 ⟶ 15:
| float = center
}}
| map_size =
| map_alt =
| location =
| target = [[
| coordinates = {{coord|29|14|0|N|82|56|0|
| date = January 1–7, 1923
| fatalities = {{Plain list|
| fatalities = 6 Black and 2 white people (official figure)<br/>27 to 150 in some reports<ref name="Sentinel Memory">{{cite news|last1=Libby|first1=Jeff|title=Rosewood Descendant Keeps The Memory Alive|url=http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2004-02-01/news/0401300610_1_rosewood-massacre-white-mob-black-residents|access-date=3 May 2016|publisher=Orlando Sentinel|date=1 February 2004|archive-date=24 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724095029/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2004-02-01/news/0401300610_1_rosewood-massacre-white-mob-black-residents|url-status=live}}</ref>▼
* 6 black and 2 white people (official figure)
▲
}}
| injuries = Unknown
}}
The '''Rosewood massacre''' was a racially motivated [[massacre]] of
Before the massacre, the town of Rosewood had been a quiet, primarily
Although the rioting was widely reported around the United States at the time, few official records documented the event. The survivors, their descendants, and the perpetrators all remained silent about Rosewood for decades. Sixty years after the rioting, the story of Rosewood was revived by major media outlets when several journalists covered it in the early 1980s. The survivors and their descendants all organized in an attempt to sue the state for failing to protect Rosewood's
Officially, the recorded death toll during the first week of January 1923 was eight (six
== Background ==
Line 37 ⟶ 43:
Rosewood was settled in 1847, nine miles (14 km) east of [[Cedar Key, Florida|Cedar Key]], near the [[Gulf of Mexico]]. Most of the local economy drew on the timber industry; the name Rosewood refers to the reddish color of cut [[Eastern Red Cedar|cedar]] wood. Two pencil mills were founded nearby in Cedar Key; local residents also worked in several [[turpentine]] mills and a sawmill three miles (4.8 km) away in [[Sumner, Florida|Sumner]], in addition to farming of citrus and cotton. The hamlet grew enough to warrant the construction of a post office and train depot on the [[Florida Railroad]] in 1870, but it was never incorporated as a town.<ref name="historian"/>
Initially, Rosewood had both
As was common in the late 19th century South, Florida had imposed legal [[racial segregation]] under [[Jim Crow laws]] requiring separate
=== Racial tensions in Florida ===
Racial violence at the time was common throughout the nation, manifested as individual incidents of extra-legal actions, or attacks on entire communities. [[Lynchings]] reached a peak around the start of the 20th century as southern states were disenfranchising
[[File:Turpentine workers in Florida.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A black and white photograph of a
Elected officials in Florida represented the voting white majority. Governor [[Napoleon Bonaparte Broward]] (1905–1909) suggested finding a location out of state for
When U.S. troop training began for World War I, many white Southerners were alarmed at the thought of arming
The influx of
[[File:Rosewood Massacre Map.PNG|thumb|350 px|alt=A color digital map showing the location of Rosewood in relation to other towns involved in the massacre|Map of [[Rosewood, Florida]] and the surrounding towns]]
In the mid-1920s, the [[Ku Klux Klan]] (KKK) reached its peak membership in the South and Midwest after a revival beginning around 1915. Its growth was due in part to tensions from rapid industrialization and social change in many growing cities; in the Midwest and West, its growth was related to the competition of waves of new immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe.<ref name="Jackson, pp. 82, 241">Jackson, pp. 82, 241.</ref> The KKK was strong in the Florida cities of [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]] and [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]]; [[Miami, Florida|Miami]]'s chapter was influential enough to hold initiations at the Miami Country Club. The Klan also flourished in smaller towns of the South where racial violence had a long tradition dating back to the [[Reconstruction era]].<ref name="Jackson, pp. 82, 241"/><ref>Gannon, pp. 300–301.</ref> An editor of ''[[The Gainesville Sun|The Gainesville Daily Sun]]'' admitted that he was a member of the Klan in 1922, and praised the organization in print.<ref name="colburn"/>
Despite Governor Catts' change of attitude, white mob action frequently occurred in towns throughout north and central Florida and went unchecked by local law enforcement. Extrajudicial violence against
== Events in Rosewood ==
=== Fannie Taylor's story ===
The Rosewood massacre occurred after a white woman in Sumner claimed she had been assaulted by a
On January 1, 1923, the Taylors' neighbor reported that she heard a scream while it was still dark, grabbed her revolver and ran next door to find Fannie bruised and beaten, with scuff marks across the white floor. Taylor was screaming that someone needed to get her baby. She said a
[[image:Sara Carrier.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Sarah Carrier (left), Sylvester Carrier (standing) and his sister Willie Carrier (right), taken around 1910]]
The neighbor also reported the absence that day of Taylor's laundress, Sarah Carrier, whom the white women in Sumner called "Aunt Sarah". Philomena Goins, Carrier's granddaughter, told a different story about Fannie Taylor many years later. She joined her grandmother Carrier at Taylor's home as usual that morning. They watched a white man leave by the back door later in the morning before noon. She said Taylor did emerge from her home showing evidence of having been beaten, but it was well after morning.<ref name="moore"/> Carrier's grandson and Philomena's brother, Arnett Goins, sometimes went with them; he had seen the white man before. Carrier told others in the
Quickly, Levy County Sheriff Robert Elias Walker raised a [[Posse comitatus (common law)|posse]] and started an investigation. When they learned that Jesse Hunter, a
A group of white [[vigilantes]], who had become a mob by this time, seized Sam Carter, a local blacksmith and teamster who worked in a turpentine still. They tortured Carter into admitting that he had hidden the escaped chain gang prisoner. Carter led the group to the spot in the woods where he said he had taken Hunter, but the dogs were unable to pick up a scent. To the surprise of many witnesses, someone fatally shot Carter in the face.<ref group=note>Ernest Parham, a high school student in Cedar Key at the time, told David Colburn, "You could hear the gasps. I think most everyone was shocked. Mr. Pillsbury, he was standing there, and he said, 'Oh my God, now we'll never know who did it.' And then everybody dispersed, just turned and left. They was all really upset with this fella that did the killing. He was not very well thought of, not then, not for years thereafter, for that matter." (D'Orso, p. 194.)</ref> The group hung Carter's mutilated body from a tree as a symbol to other
After lynching Sam Carter, the mob met Sylvester Carrier—Aaron's cousin and Sarah's son—on a road and told him to get out of town. Carrier refused, and when the mob moved on, he suggested gathering as many people as possible for protection.<ref>[[#Incident at Rosewood|Jones ''et al.'']], p. 36.</ref>
=== Escalation ===
[[File:Rosewood Florida rc12409.jpg|thumb|200px|alt=A black and white photograph of a crude wooden structure that could be a small shed, animal house, or hunting cabin with smoke pouring from it and flames visible in the door|A cabin burns in Rosewood on January 4, 1923<ref group=note>The image was originally published in a news magazine in 1923, referring to the destruction of the town. Its veracity is somewhat disputed. Eva Jenkins, a Rosewood survivor, testified that she knew of no such structure in the town, that it was perhaps an outhouse. Rosewood houses were painted and most of them neat. However, the Florida Archives lists the image as representing the burning of a structure in Rosewood. (D'Orso, pp. 238–239) ([http://www.floridamemory.com/PhotographicCollection/ Florida Memory Archives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080918030112/http://www.floridamemory.com/PhotographicCollection/ |date=2008-09-18 }}
Despite the efforts of Sheriff Walker and mill supervisor W. H. Pillsbury to disperse the mobs, white men continued to gather. On the evening of January 4, a mob of armed white men went to Rosewood and surrounded the house of Sarah Carrier. It was filled with approximately 15 to 25 people seeking refuge, including many children hiding upstairs under mattresses. Some of the children were in the house because they were visiting their grandmother for Christmas.<ref name="moore"/> They were protected by Sylvester Carrier and possibly two other men, but Carrier may have been the only one armed. He had a reputation of being proud and independent. In Rosewood, he was a formidable character, a crack shot, expert hunter, and music teacher, who was simply called "Man". Many white people considered him arrogant and disrespectful.<ref name="historian"/><ref name="moore"/>
Sylvester Carrier was reported in the ''New York Times'' saying that the attack on Fannie Taylor was an "example of what negroes could do without interference".<ref>"Kill Six in Florida; Burn Negro Houses", ''The New York Times'' (January 6, 1923) p. 1.</ref> Whether or not he said this is debated, but a group of 20 to 30 white men, inflamed by the reported statement, went to the Carrier house. They believed that the
Reports conflict about who shot first, but after two members of the mob approached the house, someone opened fire. Sarah Carrier was shot in the head. Her nine-year-old niece at the house, Minnie Lee Langley, had witnessed Aaron Carrier taken from his house three days earlier. When Langley heard someone had been shot, she went downstairs to find her grandmother, Emma Carrier. Sylvester placed Minnie Lee in a firewood closet in front of him as he watched the front door, using the closet for cover: "He got behind me in the wood [bin], and he put the gun on my shoulder, and them [[Cracker (pejorative)|cracker]]s was still shooting and going on. He put his gun on my shoulder ... told me to lean this way, and then Poly Wilkerson, he kicked the door down. When he kicked the door down, Cuz' Syl let him have it."<ref name="jones">Jones, Maxine (Fall 1997). "The Rosewood Massacre and the Women Who Survived It", ''Florida Historical Quarterly'', '''76''' (2), pp. 193–208.</ref><ref name="tropic">Moore, Gary (March 7, 1993). "Wiped Off the Map", ''Tropic Magazine'' insert to the ''Miami Herald'', pp. 14–25.</ref>
Several shots were exchanged: the house was riddled with bullets, but the whites did not
=== Razing Rosewood ===
[[File:Rosewood 1923 map from Tropic Magazine.jpg|right|400 px|alt=A color digital map of the town of Rosewood marking the structures that stood on January 1, 1923, and the Seabord Air Line Railway]]
News of the armed standoff at the Carrier house attracted white men from all over the state to take part. Reports were carried in the ''[[St. Petersburg Independent]]'', the ''[[Florida Times-Union]]'', the ''[[Miami Herald]]'', and ''[[The Miami Metropolis]]'', in versions of competing facts and overstatement. The ''Miami Metropolis'' listed 20
Black newspapers covered the events from a different angle. The ''[[Afro-American (newspaper)|Afro-American]]'' in Baltimore highlighted the acts of African-American heroism against the onslaught of "savages". Another newspaper reported: "Two Negro women were attacked and raped between Rosewood and Sumner. The sexual lust of the brutal white mobbists satisfied, the women were strangled."<ref name="dorso news"/>
The white mob burned
White men began surrounding houses, pouring [[kerosene]] on and lighting them, then shooting at those who emerged. Lexie Gordon, a light-skinned 50-year-old woman who was ill with [[typhoid fever]], had sent her children into the woods. She was killed by a shotgun blast to the face when she fled from hiding underneath her home, which had been set on fire by the mob. Fannie Taylor's brother-in-law claimed to be her killer.<ref name="historian"/> On January 5, more whites converged on the area, forming a mob of between 200 and 300 people. Some came from out of state. Mingo Williams, who was {{convert|20|mi|km}} away near Bronson, was collecting turpentine sap by the side of the road when a car full of
[[File:Cary Hardee.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=A black and white photograph of about ten white men in three-piece suits standing on the steps of a building with columns|Governor [[Cary Hardee]] (center front, in white) took Sheriff Walker's word that all was well, and went on a hunting trip.]]
Sheriff Walker pleaded with news reporters covering the violence to send a message to the [[Alachua County]] Sheriff P. G. Ramsey to send assistance. Carloads of men came from Gainesville to assist Walker; many of them had probably participated in the Klan rally earlier in the week. W. H. Pillsbury tried desperately to keep black workers in the Sumner mill, and worked with his assistant, a man named Johnson, to dissuade the white workers from joining others using extra-legal violence. Armed guards sent by Sheriff Walker turned away
Governor [[Cary Hardee]] was on standby, ready to order [[National Guard (United States)|National Guard]] troops in to neutralize the situation. Despite his message to the sheriff of Alachua County, Walker informed Hardee by telegram that he did not fear "further disorder" and urged the governor not to intervene. The governor's office monitored the situation, in part because of intense Northern interest, but Hardee would not activate the National Guard without Walker's request. Walker insisted he could handle the situation; records show that Governor Hardee took Sheriff Walker's word and went on a hunting trip.<ref>[[#Incident at Rosewood|Jones ''et al.'']], pp. 48–49.</ref>
Line 104 ⟶ 110:
=== Evacuation ===
On January 6, white train conductors John and William Bryce managed the evacuation of some
Lee Ruth Davis, her sister, and two brothers were hidden by the Wrights while their father hid in the woods. On the morning of Poly Wilkerson's funeral, the Wrights left the children alone to attend. Davis and her siblings crept out of the house to hide with relatives in the nearby town of Wylly, but they were turned back for being too dangerous. The children spent the day in the woods but decided to return to the Wrights' house. After spotting men with guns on their way back, they crept back to the Wrights, who were frantic with fear.<ref name="jones"/> Davis later described the experience: "I was laying that deep in water, that is where we sat all day long ... We got on our bellies and crawled. We tried to keep people from seeing us through the bushes ... We were trying to get back to Mr. Wright house. After we got all the way to his house, Mr. and Mrs. Wright were all the way out in the bushes hollering and calling us, and when we answered, they were so glad."<ref name="historian"/> Several other white residents of Sumner hid
=== Response ===
Line 133 ⟶ 139:
In 1982, an investigative reporter named Gary Moore from the ''[[St. Petersburg Times]]'' drove from the Tampa area to Cedar Key looking for a story. When he commented to a local on the "gloomy atmosphere" of [[Cedar Key]], and questioned why a Southern town was all-white when at the start of the 20th century it had been nearly half black, the local woman replied, "I know what you're digging for. You're trying to get me to talk about that massacre." Moore was hooked.<ref name="davey">Davey, Monica (January 26, 1997). "Beyond Rosewood", ''The St. Petersburg Times'' (Florida), p. 1A.</ref><ref>[[#Appendices|Jones ''et al.'', "Appendices"]], p. 398.</ref> He was able to convince Arnett Doctor to join him on a visit to the site, which he did without telling his mother. Moore addressed the disappearance of the incident from written or spoken history: "After a week of sensation, the weeks of January 1923 seem to have dropped completely from Florida's consciousness, like some unmentionable skeleton in the family closet".<ref name="moore">Moore, Gary (July 25, 1982). "Rosewood", ''The Floridian'', insert magazine of ''The St. Petersburg Times'' (Florida), pp. 6–19.</ref>
When Philomena Goins Doctor found out what her son had done, she became enraged and threatened to disown him, shook him, then slapped him.<ref name="video1"/> A year later, Moore took the story to [[CBS]]' ''[[60 Minutes]],'' and was the background reporter on a piece produced by Joel Bernstein and narrated by African-American journalist [[Ed Bradley]]. Philomena Doctor called her family members and declared Moore's story and Bradley's television exposé were full of lies.<ref>D'Orso, pp. 79–80.</ref> A psychologist at the University of Florida later testified in state hearings that the survivors of Rosewood showed signs of [[posttraumatic stress disorder]], made worse by the secrecy. Many years after the incident, they exhibited fear, denial, and [[hypervigilance]] about socializing with whites—which they expressed specifically regarding their children, interspersed with bouts of apathy.<ref name="jones"/> Despite such characteristics, survivors counted religious faith as integral to their lives following the attack in Rosewood, to keep them from becoming bitter. Michael D'Orso, who wrote a book about Rosewood, said, "[E]veryone told me in their own way, in their own words, that if they allowed themselves to be bitter, to hate, it would have eaten them up."<ref>Halton, Beau (October 21, 1997). [http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/102197/2b3rosew.html "No Resentment, Survivors Say"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317111258/http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/102197/2b3rosew.html |date=2008-03-17 }}
The legacy of Rosewood remained in Levy County. For decades no black residents lived in Cedar Key or Sumner. Robin Raftis, the white editor of the ''Cedar Key Beacon'', tried to place the events in an open forum by printing Moore's story. She had been collecting anecdotes for many years, and said, "Things happened out there in the woods. There's no doubt about that. How bad? We don't know ... So I said, 'Okay guys, I'm opening the closet with the skeletons, because if we don't learn from mistakes, we're doomed to repeat them'." Raftis received notes reading, "We know how to get you and your kids. All it takes is a match".<ref name="booth">Booth, William (May 30, 1993). "Rosewood: 70 Years Ago, a Town Disappeared in a Blaze Fueled by Racial Hatred. Not Everyone Has Forgotten", ''The Washington Post'', p. F1.</ref>
Line 149 ⟶ 155:
Arnett Doctor told the story of Rosewood to print and television reporters from all over the world. He raised the number of historic residents in Rosewood, as well as the number who died at the Carrier house siege; he exaggerated the town's contemporary importance by comparing it to [[Atlanta, Georgia]] as a cultural center. Doctor wanted to keep Rosewood in the news; his accounts were printed with few changes.<ref>D'Orso, pp. 165–166.</ref> According to historian Thomas Dye, Doctor's "forceful addresses to groups across the state, including the NAACP, together with his many articulate and heart-rending television appearances, placed intense pressure on the legislature ... to do something about Rosewood".<ref name="dye"/> In December 1996, Doctor told a meeting at Jacksonville Beach that 30 women and children had been buried alive at Rosewood, and that his facts had been confirmed by journalist Gary Moore. He was embarrassed to learn that Moore was in the audience. As the [[Holland & Knight]] law firm continued the claims case, they represented 13 survivors, people who had lived in Rosewood at the time of the 1923 violence, in the claim to the legislature.<ref>D'Orso, p. 163.</ref>
The lawsuit missed the filing deadline of January 1, 1993. The speaker of the [[Florida House of Representatives]] commissioned a group to research and provide a report by which the equitable claim bill could be evaluated. It took them nearly a year to do the research, including interviews, and writing. On December 22, 1993, historians from [[Florida State University]], [[Florida A&M University]], and the [[University of Florida]] delivered a 100-page report (with 400 pages of attached documentation) on the Rosewood massacre. It was based on available primary documents, and interviews mostly with black survivors of the incident. Due to the media attention received by residents of Cedar Key and Sumner following filing of the claim by survivors, white participants were discouraged from offering interviews to the historians. The report used a taped description of the events by Jason McElveen, a Cedar Key resident who had since died,<ref>D'Orso, p. 183.</ref> and an interview with Ernest Parham, who was in high school in 1923 and happened upon the lynching of Sam Carter. Parham said he had never spoken of the incident because he was never asked.<ref>D'Orso, pp. 192–193, 253–254.</ref> The report was titled "Documented History of the Incident which Occurred at Rosewood, Florida in January 1923".<ref>"[http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/library/bibliographies/Rosewood_bib.cfm Rosewood Bibliography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140410115151/http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/library/bibliographies/Rosewood_bib.cfm |date=2014-04-10 }}
=== Rosewood victims v. the State of Florida ===
Florida's consideration of a bill to compensate victims of racial violence was the first by any U.S. state. Opponents argued that the bill set a dangerous precedent and put the onus of paying survivors and descendants on Floridians who had nothing to do with the incident in Rosewood.<ref name="video1"/><ref name="bassett">Bassett, C. Jeanne (Fall 1994). "Comments: House Bill 591: Florida Compensates Rosewood Victims and Their Families for a Seventy-One-Year-Old Injury", ''Florida State University Law Review'' 22 Fla St. U.L. Rev. 503.</ref> James Peters, who represented the State of Florida, argued that the [[statute of limitation]]s applied because the law enforcement officials named in the lawsuit—Sheriff Walker and Governor Hardee—had died many years before.<ref name="bassett"/> He also called into question the shortcomings of the report: although the historians were instructed not to write it with compensation in mind, they offered conclusions about the actions of Sheriff Walker and Governor Hardee. The report was based on investigations led by historians as opposed to legal experts; they relied in cases on information that was [[hearsay]] from witnesses who had since died. Critics thought that some of the report's writers asked [[leading question]]s in their interviews.<ref name="dye"/>
Even legislators who agreed with the sentiment of the bill asserted that the events in Rosewood were typical of the era. One survivor interviewed by Gary Moore said that to single out Rosewood as an exception, as if the entire world was not a Rosewood, would be "vile".<ref name="moore"/>
In 1994, the state legislature held a hearing to discuss the merits of the bill. Lee Ruth Davis died a few months before testimony began, but Minnie Lee Langley, Arnett Goins, Wilson Hall, Willie Evans, and several descendants from Rosewood testified. Other witnesses were a clinical psychologist from the University of Florida, who testified that survivors had suffered post-traumatic stress, and experts who offered testimony about the scale of property damages.<ref name="dye"/> Langley spoke first; the hearing room was packed with journalists and onlookers who were reportedly mesmerized by her statement.<ref>D'Orso, pp. 230–234.</ref> Ernest Parham also testified about what he saw. When asked specifically when he was contacted by law enforcement regarding the death of Sam Carter, Parham replied that he had been contacted for the first time on Carter's death two weeks before testifying. The coroner's inquest for Sam Carter had taken place the day after he was shot in January 1923; he concluded that Carter had been killed "by Unknown Party".<ref>D'Orso, p. 256.</ref>
Line 160 ⟶ 166:
After hearing all the evidence, the [[Special Master]] Richard Hixson, who presided over the testimony for the Florida Legislature, declared that the state had a "moral obligation" to make [[restitution]] to the former residents of Rosewood. He said, "I truly don't think they cared about compensation. I think they simply wanted the truth to be known about what happened to them ... whether they got fifty cents or a hundred and fifty million dollars. It didn't matter."<ref>D'Orso, pp. 256–257.</ref>
Black and Hispanic legislators in Florida took on the Rosewood compensation bill as a cause, and refused to support Democratic Governor [[Lawton Chiles]]' healthcare plan until he put pressure on
<blockquote>Because of the strength and commitment of these survivors and their families, the long silence has finally been broken and the shadow has been lifted ... Instead of being forgotten, because of their testimony, the Rosewood story is known across our state and across our nation. This legislation assures that the tragedy of Rosewood will never be forgotten by the generations to come.<ref name="bassett"/></blockquote>
Line 168 ⟶ 175:
==Rosewood remembered ==
=== Representation in other media===
{{multiple image|header=Rosewood historical marker<br>(front and back)|align=right|direction=vertical|image1=Rosewood, Florida historical marker (1).jpg|alt1=A color photograph of the front of the bronze plaque in Rosewood next to the highway|image2=Rosewood, Florida historical marker (2).jpg|alt2=A color photograph of the back of the bronze plaque in Rosewood}}
The Rosewood massacre, the ensuing silence, and the compensation hearing were the subject of the 1996 book titled ''Like Judgment Day: The Ruin and Redemption of a Town Called Rosewood'' by [[Mike D'Orso]]. It was a ''[[New York Times]]'' bestseller and won the [[Lillian Smith Book Award]], bestowed by the [[University of Georgia]] Libraries and the Southern Regional Council to authors who highlight racial and social inequality in their works.<ref>[http://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/lilliansmith/lsawardwinners1.html "Lillian Smith Book Award "] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009171320/http://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/lilliansmith/lsawardwinners1.html |date=2012-10-09 }}
The dramatic feature film ''[[Rosewood (film)|Rosewood]]'' (1997), directed by [[John Singleton]], was based on these historic events. Minnie Lee Langley served as a source for the set designers, and Arnett Doctor was hired as a consultant.<ref name="persall"/><ref name="sylbert">"Raising 'Rosewood'", ''TCI'' (March 1997), pp. 40–43.</ref> Recreated forms of the towns of Rosewood and Sumner were built in Central Florida, far away from Levy County. The film version, written by screenwriter [[Gregory Poirier]], created a character named Mann, who enters Rosewood as a type of reluctant Western-style hero. Composites of historic figures were used as characters, and the film offers the possibility of a happy ending. In ''The New York Times'' [[E.R. Shipp]] suggests that Singleton's youth and his background in [[California]] contributed to his willingness to take on the story of Rosewood. She notes Singleton's rejection of the image of black people as victims and the portrayal of "an idyllic past in which black families are intact, loving and prosperous, and a black superhero who changes the course of history when he escapes the noose, takes on the mob with double-barreled ferocity and saves many women and children from death".<ref name="shipp"/> Singleton has offered his view: "I had a very deep—I wouldn't call it fear—but a deep contempt for the South because I felt that so much of the horror and evil that black people have faced in this country is rooted here ... So in some ways this is my way of dealing with the whole thing."<ref name="levin">Levin, Jordan (June 30, 1996). "Movies: On Location: Dredging in the Deep South John Singleton Digs into the Story of Rosewood, a Town Burned by a Lynch Mob in 1923 ...", ''The Los Angeles Times'', p. 5.</ref>
Reception of the film was mixed. Shipp commented on Singleton's creating a fictional account of Rosewood events, saying that the film "assumes a lot and then makes up a lot more".<ref name="shipp">Shipp, E. R. (March 16, 1997). "Film View: Taking Control of Old Demons by Forcing Them Into the Light", ''The New York Times'', p. 13.</ref> The film version alludes to many more deaths than the highest counts by eyewitnesses. Gary Moore believes that creating an outside character who inspires the citizens of Rosewood to fight back condescends to survivors, and he criticized the inflated death toll specifically, saying the film was "an interesting experience in illusion".<ref name="persall">Persall, Steve, (February 17, 1997) "A Burning Issue", ''The St. Petersburg Times'', p. 1D.</ref>
=== Legacy ===
[[File:House in Roswwood, Florida, US.jpg|right|thumb|The only remaining house in Rosewood]]
The State of Florida declared Rosewood a Florida Heritage Landmark in 2004 and subsequently erected a historical marker on [[Florida State Road 24|State Road 24]] that names the victims and describes the community's destruction.<ref name="curry">{{cite news
|last=Curry
Line 188 ⟶ 195:
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615080657/http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090122/NEWS/901220298 |archive-date=2011-06-15
|newspaper=[[The Gainesville Sun]]
|url-status=dead}}</ref> Scattered structures remain within the community, including a church, a business, and a few homes, notably John Wright's. Mary Hall Daniels, the last known survivor of the massacre at the time of her death, died at the age of 98 in [[Jacksonville, Florida]], on May 2, 2018.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Caplan|first=Andrew|date=May 28, 2018|title=Longest-living Rosewood survivor: 'I'm not angry'|work=The Gainesville Sun|url=https://www.gainesville.com/news/20180528/longest-living-rosewood-survivor-im-not-angry|access-date=November 21, 2020}}</ref> Vera Goins-Hamilton, who had not previously been publicly identified as a survivor of the Rosewood massacre, died at the age of 100 in [[Lacoochee, Florida]], in 2020.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Carter|first=Rod|date=June 17, 2020|title=Pasco County woman said to be true Rosewood survivor passes away|work=Channel 8 (Tampa)|url=https://www.wfla.com/news/pasco-county/late-pasco-county-woman-said-to-be-last-true-rosewood-survivor-passes-away/|access-date=November 24, 2020}}</ref>
Rosewood descendants formed the Rosewood Heritage Foundation and the Real Rosewood Foundation, Inc., in order to educate people both in Florida and all over the world about the massacre. The Rosewood Heritage Foundation created a traveling exhibit that tours internationally in order to share the history of Rosewood and the attacks; a permanent display is housed in the library of [[Bethune-Cookman University]] in [[Daytona Beach, Florida|Daytona Beach]].<ref name="curry"/> The Real Rosewood Foundation presents a variety of humanitarian awards to people in Central Florida who help preserve Rosewood's history. The organization also recognized Rosewood residents who protected blacks during the attacks by presenting an Unsung Heroes Award to the descendants of Sheriff Robert Walker, John Bryce, and William Bryce.<ref name="awards">Tinker, Cleveland (March 16, 2006). "[http://www.gainesville.com/article/20060316/GUARDIAN/60315042 Real Rosewood Foundation Hands Out Awards"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615080820/http://www.gainesville.com/article/20060316/GUARDIAN/60315042 |date=2011-06-15 }}, ''The Gainesville Sun''. Retrieved on April 8, 2009.</ref> Lizzie Jenkins, executive director of the Real Rosewood Foundation and niece of the Rosewood schoolteacher, explained her interest in keeping Rosewood's legacy current: ▼
▲Rosewood descendants formed the Rosewood Heritage Foundation and the Real Rosewood Foundation Inc. in order to educate people both in Florida and all over the world about the massacre. The Rosewood Heritage Foundation created a traveling exhibit that tours internationally in order to share the history of Rosewood and the attacks; a permanent display is housed in the library of [[Bethune-Cookman University]] in [[Daytona Beach, Florida|Daytona Beach]].<ref name="curry"/> The Real Rosewood Foundation presents a variety of humanitarian awards to people in Central Florida who help preserve Rosewood's history. The organization also recognized Rosewood residents who protected blacks during the attacks by presenting an Unsung Heroes Award to the descendants of Sheriff Robert Walker, John Bryce, and William Bryce.<ref name="awards">Tinker, Cleveland (March 16, 2006). "[http://www.gainesville.com/article/20060316/GUARDIAN/60315042 Real Rosewood Foundation Hands Out Awards"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615080820/http://www.gainesville.com/article/20060316/GUARDIAN/60315042 |date=2011-06-15 }}, ''The Gainesville Sun''. Retrieved on April 8, 2009.</ref> Lizzie Jenkins, executive director of the Real Rosewood Foundation and niece of the Rosewood schoolteacher, explained her interest in keeping Rosewood's legacy current:
<blockquote>It has been a struggle telling this story over the years, because a lot of people don't want to hear about this kind of history. People don't relate to it, or just don't want to hear about it. But Mama told me to keep it alive, so I keep telling it ... It's a sad story, but it's one I think everyone needs to hear.<ref>{{cite news
|last=Reink
Line 201 ⟶ 209:
|newspaper=[[The Gainesville Sun]]}}</ref></blockquote>
The Real Rosewood Foundation, Inc., under the leadership of Jenkins, is raising funds to move John Wright's house to nearby [[Archer, Florida]], and make it a museum.<ref>{{cite news
|title=Descendants mark racial violence that razed town 100 years ago
|first1=Isabella
Line 211 ⟶ 219:
|date=January 1, 2023}}</ref>
The
== See also ==
{{Div col}}
* [[African Americans in Florida]]▼
* [[Black genocide]] – the notion that African Americans have been subjected to [[genocide]]
* [[Racism against African Americans]]▼
* [[Racism in the United States]]▼
* [[Lynching in the United States]]▼
* [[Mass racial violence in the United States]]▼
* [[Terrorism in the United States]]▼
* [[Domestic terrorism in the United States]]
* [[Nadir of American race relations]]▼
* [[Red Summer]]▼
▲* [[African Americans in Florida]]
* [[Newberry Six lynchings]]▼
* [[Elaine massacre]]
* [[Ocoee massacre]]▼
* [[Perry massacre]]▼
* [[Opelousas massacre]]▼
* [[Murder of Harry and Harriette Moore]]▼
* [[Tulsa race massacre]]▼
* [[Wilmington insurrection of 1898|Wilmington insurrection]]▼
* [[List of ethnic cleansing campaigns]]
* [[List of ethnic riots#United States]]
Line 237 ⟶ 232:
* [[List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States]]
* [[List of massacres in the United States]]
▲* [[Lynching in the United States]]
▲* [[Mass racial violence in the United States]]
▲* [[Murder of Harry and Harriette Moore]]
▲* [[Nadir of American race relations]]
▲* [[Newberry Six lynchings]]
▲* [[Ocoee massacre]]
▲* [[Opelousas massacre]]
▲* [[Perry massacre]]
▲* [[Racism against African Americans]]
▲* [[Racism in the United States]]
▲* [[Red Summer]]
▲* [[Terrorism in the United States]]
* [[Timeline of terrorist attacks in the United States]]
▲* [[Tulsa race massacre]]
▲* [[Wilmington insurrection of 1898|Wilmington insurrection]]
{{Div col end}}
== Notes ==
Line 246 ⟶ 256:
== Bibliography ==
* [[Michael D'Orso|D'Orso, Michael]] (1996). ''Like Judgment Day: The Ruin and Redemption of a Town Called Rosewood'', Grosset/Putnam. {{ISBN|0-399-14147-2}}
* Dunn, Marvin. (2013). ''The Beast in Florida: A History of Anti-Black Violence'', [[University Press of Florida]]. {{ISBN|978-0-8130-4163-6}} ([http://upf.com/Mkt/Dunn_public_statement.pdf This book has been unpublished by the University Press of Florida and is not a valid reference])
* [[Michael Gannon (historian)|Gannon, Michael]] (ed.) (1996). ''A New History of Florida'', [[University Press of Florida]]. {{ISBN|0-8130-1415-8}}
* Gonzalez-Tennant. (2018).''[http://upf.com/book.asp?id=9780813056784 The Rosewood Massacre: An Archaeology and History of Intersectional Violence]'', University Press of Florida. {{ISBN|9780813056784}}.
* {{cite news
|title=Owed To Rosewood Voices From A Florida Town That Died In A Racial Firestorm 70 Years Ago Rise From The Ashes, Asking For Justice.
|date=February 21, 1993
Line 258 ⟶ 268:
|access-date=January 2, 2018
|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1993-02-21/features/9301110134_1_lee-ruth-davis-rosewood-white-men}}
* Jackson, Kenneth T. (1992). ''The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915–1930'', Elephant Paperback. {{ISBN|0-8223-0730-8}}
* Jones, Maxine; McCarthy, Kevin (1993). ''African Americans in Florida'', Pineapple Press. {{ISBN|1-56164-030-1}}
* <cite id="Incident at Rosewood"></cite>Jones, Maxine; Rivers, Larry; Colburn, David; Dye, Tom; Rogers, William (1993). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20090126110750/http://displaysforschools.com/rosewoodrp.html A Documented History of the Incident Which Occurred at Rosewood, Florida in 1923]" (hosted online by Displays for Schools).
* <cite id="Appendices"></cite>Jones, Maxine; Rivers, Larry; Colburn, David; Dye, Tom; Rogers, William (1993). "Appendices: A Documented History of the Incident Which Occurred at Rosewood, Florida in 1923".
* [[Charlton Tebeau|Tebeau, Charlton]] (1971). ''A History of Florida'', [[University of Miami]] Press. {{ISBN|0-87024-149-4}}
==Further reading==
* {{cite book |ref={{SfnRef|D'Orso,|1996|p=}} |last1=D'Orso |first1=Michael |author-link1=Mike D'Orso |date=1996 |title=Like Judgment Day: The Ruin and Redemption of a Town Called Rosewood |url=https://archive.org/details/likejudgmentdayr0000dors_v2c6/page/n5/mode/2up |url-access=registration |publisher=[[G.P. Putnam's Sons]] |isbn=9780399141478 |via=[[Internet Archive]] }} {{LCCN|9538492}}; {{ISBN|0-3991-4147-2}}; {{OCLC|33047183|show=all}}.
* Flowers, Charles (March 14, 1997) "[https://web.archive.org/web/20080326175941/http://www.seminoletribe.com/tribune/97/mar/rosewood.shtml Is Singleton's Movie a Scandal or a Black ''Schindler's List''?]", ''Seminole Tribune''▼
* Markovitz, Jonathan. ''Legacies of Lynching: Racial Violence and Memory,'' [[University of Minnesota Press]], 2004. Section on Singleton's film.
* Schumacher, Aileen. ''Rosewood's Ashes'' (2002). A fictional murder mystery that uses the massacre at Rosewood as historical backdrop.
▲*Flowers, Charles (March 14, 1997) "[https://web.archive.org/web/20080326175941/http://www.seminoletribe.com/tribune/97/mar/rosewood.shtml Is Singleton's Movie a Scandal or a Black ''Schindler's List''?]", ''Seminole Tribune''
== External links ==
{{commonscat|Rosewood massacre}}
* [http://rosewoodflorida.com/ The Real Rosewood website]
* [http://www.virtualrosewood.com/ Rosewood Heritage & VR Project]
* [http://www.displaysforschools.com/history.html ''Remembering Rosewood''], by Displays for Schools, Inc.
* [http://www.
<!--* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090221050653/http://dlis.dos.state.fl.us/fgils/rosewood_bib.html State Library and Archives of Florida Bibliography: Rosewood Bibliography]-->
▲{{featured article}}
{{Lynching in the United States}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosewood Massacre}}
[[Category:Lynching deaths in Florida|*]]▼
[[Category:1923 disasters in the United States]]
[[Category:1923 fires in the United States]]
[[Category:1923 in Florida]]
[[Category:1923 murders in the United States]]
[[Category:1923 riots in the United States]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:Arson in Florida]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Levy County, Florida]]▼
[[Category:Ethnic cleansing in the United States]]
[[Category:Levy County, Florida]]
▲[[Category:Lynching deaths in Florida|*]]
[[Category:Lynching in the United States]]
▲[[Category:Mass murder in 1923]]
[[Category:Mass murder in Florida]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Massacres in the United States]]
[[Category:Massacres of ethnic groups]]
[[Category:Racially motivated violence against African Americans]]
[[Category:Riots and civil disorder in Florida]]
[[Category:White American riots in the United States]]▼
▲[[Category:Buildings and structures in Levy County, Florida]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Levy County, Florida]]
▲[[Category:White American riots in the United States]]
|