Many of us have heard of the massacre of Rosewood Florida. Just to add some context, Rosewood, Florida is located in north Florida in Levy County, 32625. It sits northeast of Sumner and Cedar Key, Florida. Rosewood was a community and home to more than 300 black people, and Sumner was for white people.
So what happened in Rosewood?
On January 1, 1923, a woman(who we don’t care to identify) was cheating on her husband with another white man. The man in which she was cheating with physically abused her, leaving her with visible bruises. There were other people who witnessed the altercation, and, to sum it up, she lied and said a black man was to blame for her abuse and rape.
The so-called woman “victim” claimed that it was a black man, but she couldn’t identify her so-called attacker. This led to a white mob of at least 1500 people from Sumner and surrounding areas including the KKK to head to Rosewood to get revenge for this violent act. The mob ensued on the city of Rosewood killing for an entire week. They killed everybody minus sixteen people and they burned the entire town down to ashes.
The only survivors were thirteen children, and three adults who probably would have died had they not hidden in the woods for a week. John Wright, a white man whose house was the only house that survived the massacre and still stands today is the reason why there are survivors. He gave the survivors in the wood refuge and summoned a train to get the women and children out of Rosewood.
Why was the massacre hidden for so long? Who told their story??
You won’t find this in any of our history books because Florida refused to acknowledge this historical event. A mob wiped out the entire town of Rosewood and the state of Florida swept it under the rug and no one knew this had happened to Rosewood, Florida for almost 60 years until Gary Moore, a St Petersburg Times reporter, researched and shared the facts of this American Horror Story in 1982.
In 1994, 71 years later, the State of Florida finally acknowledged its wrongdoings and paid $2 million dollars of restitution to the remaining 9 surviving families. In 2004, Governor Jeb Bush issued a commemorative historical plague that was placed in front of Mr. Wright’s store. In 2010, a state of Florida scholarship for their family members was set up. Please share this story. And let’s celebrate January 1 in remembrance of Rosewood, Florida so that our people’s legacy and the survivors are never forgotten. January 1, 2023 will mark 100 years since the massacre.
Rosewood Gallery
Dr. Trenice J. Brinkley is a distinguished educator, renowned publicist, and successful entrepreneur. She is celebrated for her unwavering work ethic, strong determination, and philanthropic spirit. As an award-winning celebrity publicist, Dr. Brinkley excels in helping brands create compelling narratives, develop innovative strategies, and achieve greater visibility.