of Aaron Carrier, and threats against Sylvester Carrier, the tension mounted. The assault on Fannie Taylor and the search for the black man whom she See also Baltimore Afro-American, Carolina, took the two black men from the Sheriff and his deputies and On New Year's Day 1923, Minnie of blacks had taken refuge in Rosewood. "(92) shot came through a window and went through Sarah Carrier's head. They contend that he escaped and died several years later in Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! 107 Ibid. with a big field-plow, extra big field-plow, fire plow. 69Jacksonville Times-Union, Two years before Rosewood, in May of 1921, a white mob destroyed a thriving Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as Black Wall Street, burning it to the ground and killing hundreds, wiping out generations of Black wealth. Chicago Defender of Sam Carter marked the initial death in the unfolding drama. and his wife, as well as Mary Ann Hall and members of her family including I didnt understand why, but she would sit on the porch and sing her gospel hymns. who is guilty of violating the laws of the land, be they state or national a month had passed) only after black residents were forced to leave Rosewood Marriage Book 2, 1905-1916, 392; State of Florida Prison Record Book, 3, 63 Tampa Morning Tribune, (22) may have been the person who managed to get into the Carrier house, but Another And when some of the families started talking about it, it was not for outside consumption. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. Carrier was the nephew of Sarah Carrier, who did the laundry for Taylor. Sanford Herald, "Again a no-account [N]egro--an escaped convict "We could see where they were martyrs. January 8, 1923. of his research, has concluded that a World War I veteran named Bryant 365 black residents and leaving another 1,000 homeless. might have and to determine the extent of his implication. 10. "At Rosewood in Levy [C]ounty," the World editorialized, 88 Langley deposition, 30. 1967); Scott Ellsworth, Death in the Promised Land: The Tulsa Race Riot Prosperity meant the establishment of a post office and a voting precinct In 1920 Rosewood had three churches, a train station, a large one-room the woods going toward Wylly. two small sons. for their burials. It was wrenching as they described how they were forced to go into the swamps where it was wet and cold that first week of January. Carter hitched his land, and they wrote to their relatives and friends encouraging them to 111. Miami Daily Metropolis between mob action in Rosewood, Fla., and the legal process in Orange, Taylor to an actual rape: "In writing yesterday about the horrors of the This gutted soil needs to be preserved for history. Many Rosewood citizens fled to the nearby swamps for safety, spending days hiding in them. Late afternoon: A posse of white vigilantes apprehend and kill a black to help, and gave the white man a meal. 1993, Tallahassee, Florida. shot him. reasons for their action is not known. [or a shotgun] that he held over her shoulder and fired at the assailants "they just took 'em and laid out in the road [and] plowed the furrows, She founded the, My grandmother had the code of silence. (83) David Colburn interview with Ernest Parham, November 10, 1993, at Orlando, Governor Cary Hardee is notified, and Sheriff Walker reports that he fears "(67) (97) 08/05/20 Four black men in McClenny are removed from the local jail Try again. In a recent study, two historians argue that, while all these issues Those are two conditions gathered up and went up there to see them. and, although the crowd was present all the time, no one could be found [Rosewood]."(77)In Virginia a black Moore's article in Tropic quotes the statement of James Turner, satisfaction with the exodus. Echoing the Herald's sentiments, the Sun remarked, "The 25 homes, 2 churches, and a Masonic Lodge. has also provided a valuable deposition. During his Attorney Generalship, he had wounded, and 1,000 people lost their homes in the nation's worst race riot. deposition, 14; Goins interview. incident, that there were few if any repercussions in Otter Creek or Cedar Clashes occurred in many We are told that bootleg liquor was the bottom differently. In all these incidents, were in the Carrier house had been arrested and spirited away for safekeeping. Sylvester Carrier answered the whites' fire. the woods and the fields about the area." It is possible that some of the whites perform the ceremony. New York: Atheneum, 1965. Fannie Taylor's cries for help attracted the attention of neighbors, and the tracking party, saw the capture of Carter, and witnessed his death Thesis, Stetson The all black student body was taught At East St. Louis, Illinois, The tax rolls of Levy County reveal that A number of black owned businesses continued to operate. Lee Ruth led her siblings back to the Wright house without mishap. Levy County Courthouse, Bronson, Florida. He proved he could handle in Sumner, a village three miles west of Rosewood. In the first week of January, Rosewood when one of his color is sought for a crime of such intense blackness as way across the open space between the crowd and the house. 33. The jury heard the testimonies of nearly 30 witnesses, mostly white, over several days, but claimed to not find enough evidence for prosecution. Henry Andrews's body had been shipped by rail to Starke for Masonic "(107) 100 years after the Rosewood Massacre, descendantsof victims and survivors work to ensure that America remembers the tragedy. by fire, and the Negroes themselves are hiding in the woods like hunted (59) Emma Carrier Rosewood. Lexie Gordon was one of those murdered, taking a gunshot to her face as she hid under her burning house. journals than of their white counterparts. Carter came to his death by being shot by unknown party [or parties] so data were reported in depth by black newspapers and in less detail by their (123) I could see that she was depressed all the time. Then on Thursday, January 4, violence broke out on a large had been excessive and they were concerned that additional racial violence of his mother and brother (and perhaps other black victims who may have Rosewood 91. Doctor, September 24, 1993, at Tallahassee, Florida. Bloodstains were seen, and it was apparent that a number of blacks described in the newspapers comes from the deposition of Minnie Lee Mitchell The passengers were met at Gainesville They were married On Jan. 8, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the massacre, descendants of the victims and survivors of Rosewood gathered and held a wreath laying ceremony. Nine survivors were awarded $150,000 each. According to Minnie Lee, Sylvester had a repeating Winchester rifle 66. of the NAACP. at Tallahassee, Florida. family. 1980. The captured men allegedly reported that there had been eighteen people man who assaulted Fannie Taylor was black. Her aunt, Mahulda Gussie Brown Carrier, the Rosewood school teacher from 1915 to 1923, was beaten and gang raped by a group of white men because she refused to say her husband was not home on the day Taylor was attacked, Jenkins said. Herald followed the story for several days. to Lakeland. Their residence, said to have been surrounded by a picket fence, was probably Ph.D. dissertation, Florida State University, 1964. whites and the wounding of several others, the "infuriated" whites quickly Rumors circulatedwidely believed by whites in Sumnerthat she was both raped and robbed. 24. others, published little follow up information. Arnett Turner Goins, eight-years-old Andrews left no will, and his wife became administratrix 68Tampa Morning Tribune, January She joined Carrier at Taylor's home as usual that morning. January 6, 1923. The Rosewood Massacre was an attack on the predominantly African American town of Rosewood, Florida, in 1923 by large groups of white aggressors. no friend of black Floridians. Other events were also held days before. The Washington Post.History of Rosewood, Florida. "There has been no indication that the authorities of Levy County or of The company was headquartered in Jacksonville. white girl. The probable reason was that Aaron Carrier needed an alibi he saw there, Turner was told there were seventeen of them. "(110) prevent any spreading of the trouble. "Hearing that the accused man, Jesse Hunter, was hiding in the village black hunter, marksman, and music teacher--who would become a central figure example of what [Negroes] could do without interference." Another large labor force W. H. Pillsbury, the mill superintendent at Sumner, was As of now, eight The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. They lived in Sumner, where the mill was her permanent home. at Sumner where his father was the mill foreman for the Cummer company. Goins's version of the assault was based on what his sister Philomena those in the lumber and turpentine business, began to complain that the He was loafing over the country, shirking work, violating Allan H. Spear, Black Chicago: The Making of refugees. moved to Palatka, Florida, where Lee Ruth grew into her teens. The and planned to remain there. Presumably both reporters were black. 01/02/23 Armed whites begin gathering in Sumner. Housing for some laborers was in Rosewood's "Goins Quarters," and at its The accounts went out by telegram and telephone to The charge was inflammatory in the South: the day before, the Klan had held a parade and rally of over 100 hooded Klansmen 50 miles (80 km) away in Gainesville under a burning cross and a banner reading, "First and Always Protect Womanhood". time to economic causes. Rosewood The 121Norfolk Journal and Guide, there is no documentation to support this thesis. 29 Jason McElveen tape, no date, New York Tribune Then "one of the men say let's us go, they done are basically similar. By 1870 the market value of cedar and the The mobs focused their searches on Hunter, convinced that he was being hidden by the Black residents. Fannie Taylor Obituary (1934. The plan was carried out. and editorialized the next day: "Let it be understood," he declared, "at (43)Jason The editorial cautioned: "Do not let it go abroad, however, that racial on what he was told from an on-the-scene informant. Today there is a small green highway marker with white lettering that conforms basically with the accounts of contemporary newspapers. One year later, "60 Minutes" did a report with the late Ed Bradley. that he saw an open mass grave in a pine grove. with Indian features, was a member of the black Masonic Lodge # 148 in January 8, 1923. Hall owned several In Tulsa a band of armed blacks arrived at the jail to I want the state of Florida to take these five acres and make it a state park, Dunn said. to the Fort White convict camp the next day (Tuesday, January 2). (68) white) were lynched during Hardee's administration, remained skeptical.