The Rosewood massacre took place during the first week of January 1923 in rural Levy County, Florida. At least six black people and two white people were killed, though eyewitness accounts suggested a higher death toll of 27 to 150. Trouble began when white men from several nearby towns lynched a black Rosewood resident. A mob of several hundred whites combed the countryside hunting for black people.
About Rosewood massacre in brief
The Rosewood massacre took place during the first week of January 1923 in rural Levy County, Florida. At least six black people and two white people were killed, though eyewitness accounts suggested a higher death toll of 27 to 150. Trouble began when white men from several nearby towns lynched a black Rosewood resident because of accusations that a white woman in nearby Sumner had been assaulted by a black drifter. A mob of several hundred whites combed the countryside hunting for black people. Survivors from the town hid for several days in nearby swamps until they were evacuated by train and car to larger towns. No arrests were made for what happened in Rosewood. The town was abandoned by its former black and white residents; none ever moved back, none were ever compensated for their land, and the town ceased to exist. In 1993, the Florida Legislature commissioned a report on the incident. As a result of the findings, Florida compensated survivors and their descendants for damages incurred because of racial violence. The incident was the subject of a 1997 feature film directed by John Singleton. In 2004, the state designated the site of Rosewood as a Florida Heritage Landmark. It was settled in 1847, nine miles east of 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 cedar wood. By 1900, the population inRosewood had become predominantly black.
The village of Sumner was predominantly white, and relations between the two communities were relatively amicable. By the 1920s, almost everyone in the close-knit region was related to each other. In the late 19th century, Florida had imposed legal segregation under Jim Crow laws. In 1920, the combined population of both towns was 638. As was common in the late 20th century in the South, black voters were effectively disenfranchised by high voter registration requirements for public facilities such as public transportation and public schools. In 2000, the U.S. Census counted 638 people in the combined towns of SumNER and Rosewood; both towns were part of a single voting precinct counted by the S.C. and S.J. Census. The population in Sumner peaked in 1915 at 355 people; Rosewood peaked at 355 in 1915. The combined population in both towns in 1920 was 637. In the combined Census in 1920, both towns had 638 black voters; the population of the combined Sumner andRosewood was 636. In 2010, the Southerners counted 6,000 people; the Rosewood and Sumner populations were 6,200 and 6,300. The Rosewood population was 6,500; the Sumner population of 6,100. In 2011, the Rose Wood population was 5,000. The Southerner population was 4,000; the rosewood population of 5,200. In 2012, the number of Rose Wood residents was 6.5, and in 2013, it was 5.2, according to the Florida Census.
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This page is based on the article Rosewood massacre published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 03, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
