The Rosewood Massacre of 1923 was an attack on the African American town of Rosewood, Florida.
In the 1920s, Rosewood’s little community of about 200 was predominantly black. This town was three miles away from the generally white city of Sumner and 48 miles from Gainesville.
A woman, Fanny Taylor, lied that a black man had sexually assaulted her, and this sparked a racially motivated massacre in the town of Rosewood. When Taylor’s claim spread rumoured, some black people in Rosewood who worked in Sumner said the assailant had been Taylor’s lover. Her story was a ruse to spare her husband’s wrath, said Maxine Jones, a Florida State University professor of African-American history, who co-authored an account of the massacre for the Florida Legislature in 1993.
Taylor’s words set in motion six days of violence in which whites from Sumner and close towns invaded Rosewood to find the assailant and lynch him. A group of white men believed her claims and deemed Jesse Hunter, a recently escaped convict, guilty of the crime.
Reacting to her allegations, these white men partnering with some Ku Klux Klan members, went on a rampage, convinced that the other black residents were hiding Hunter.
Aaron Carrier, the nephew to Sarah Carrier, who did the laundry for Taylor, was taken from his house, tied to a car and dragged to Sumner, where he was untied and beaten. The town’s sheriff intervened and put him under custody; this action saved his life.
The mob went on to the home of Sam carter, a blacksmith and tortured him till he confessed to hiding Hunter. He led them to a bush, and when there was no trace of Hunter, he was shot and then hung on a tree.
Sarah Carrier had black children hiding in her home when this was going on. On the night of January 4, a mob of armed white men surrounded the house and killed Sarah and her son, Sylvester. The children, however, escaped.
The primary targets for these attacks were churches and homes, which were burned down while people were shot down when they tried to escape.
Many Rosewood citizens fled into swamps and hid there till a train owned by John and William Bryce carried them to safety. The town was eventually burned down, and the surviving citizens didn’t return for fear of a recurrence.
The Reports said that the deaths were seven. However, witnesses estimate it to be around 150. The Rosewood story was buried until 1982 when a journalist resurrected the story through some articles that got national attention; this caused survivors to share their stories.
The action led to the passing of a bill awarding them$ 2 million and created an educational fund for descendants. The bill also called for an investigation into the matter to clarify the events in which Moore took part.
Further awareness was created through John Singleton’s 1997 film, Rosewood, which dramatised the events.
