Rosewood Remembered: Centennial of racist massacre that destroyed a
Black Florida town spotlights racial injustice past and present
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Esther Schrader | Read the full piece here
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Friend,
Nine miles before Florida State Road 24 dead-ends in the Gulf of
Mexico, a cast aluminum historical marker stands next to a white
two-story home - all that is left of Rosewood, a once-thriving,
predominantly Black town terrorized and razed to the ground by a
racist mob 100 years ago this month.
But thanks to decades of persistence by descendants of victims of the
massacre, the memory of Rosewood burns more brightly today than the
fires that ravaged it in January 1923, when white rioters, drawn by
the unverified account of a white woman who claimed she had been
beaten and assaulted by a Black drifter, set the town aflame in a
murderous rampage.
For almost 60 years the massacre, which left at least six murdered
while the rest, including dozens of children, escaped in the middle of
the night, running through swamps, hiding in the woods and leaping
onto train cars, was all but erased from historical memory. No law
enforcement agency investigated, and no one was ever charged with
crimes. The erasure mirrored that of racial violence across the U.S.,
where lynchings and mob attacks in Chicago, Tulsa
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, Omaha, and in small towns and large cities across the country were,
and in many cases continue to be, left unremarked and unremembered
save by communities of survivors.
In recent decades Rosewood has made itself the exception. In the
1990s, descendants, working with a law firm that signed on to help
them pro bono, pushed the Florida Legislature to commission a study on
the history of Rosewood, so historians could verify survivors'
accounts. They marshaled a media campaign to raise awareness of the
massacre and to overcome the fears of Black lawmakers that the issue
was too divisive. They lobbied conservative state lawmakers by
focusing not on racial justice but property rights.
The efforts paid off.
In 1994, after years of legal struggles, the Florida Legislature
passed a bill awarding $2.1 million in compensation to survivors of
the massacre and their descendants. It was a fraction of what
descendants had sought but remains to this day the only government
reparations ever paid to victims of anti-Black racial violence in the
U.S. Four years later, Florida passed a law allowing descendants of
Rosewood victims to attend Florida colleges and universities
tuition-free. More than 300 have done so to date. In 2004,
then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush traveled to Rosewood
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to dedicate the Florida Heritage Landmark historical marker,
memorializing those who died and whose lives were forever impacted by
the massacre.
Rosewood descendants and hundreds of other people will gather next
week
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at the weeklong Remembering Rosewood Centennial Commemoration -
co-sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center - first for a
wreath-laying ceremony in what was once the prosperous town and then
for a series of events at the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin
College of Law in Gainesville, about 50 miles away. Attendees will
celebrate their success at confronting white supremacy and reclaiming
history. But they will also mourn what was lost when Rosewood was
destroyed, decry the limits of what justice descendants have attained,
and condemn both the resurgent white nationalism in this country as
well as the deepening pushback in Florida and elsewhere by right-wing
politicians and policymakers against an honest reckoning with history.
"We are deeply honored to partner with the descendants of
Rosewood to bring this painful history to light - and to
radically imagine a future where all people are free from the grip of
white supremacy," said Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the
SPLC. "This kind of truth-telling is necessary to end the
centuries of oppression and anti-Black racism that continue to haunt
communities today. It is through this shared learning and reflection
that we, as a nation, can begin to heal and ensure equity and justice
for all."
READ MORE
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In solidarity,
Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center
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working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy,
strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of
all people.
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