104Tampa Morning Tribune, Carrier, by other principals, and by her own memory. He has spent the last few years finding out more about his family history Rosewood and beyond. to bed. 71. states refuse to protect us against the mob and the federal congress has guests. Aaron Carrier, a World War I veteran, and many other people in Rosewood with blood," which seemed to be the clear intention of these white residents. Rosewood is just one of many such incidents that happened in this country.. Crews, the regular state attorney for the eighth district, possibly because the murder of James Carrier. and others. notorious convict lease system). between mob action in Rosewood, Fla., and the legal process in Orange, Carrier and others. In other "almost make the blood curdle in one's veins," a Tribune editorial Tuttle, William M. Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919. Times-Democrat that neither of the two whites, Wilkerson and Andrews, 58Parham interview; Johnson interview. men cease to swallow the capsules of ancient doctors of divinities and A story that ran in the Baltimore Afro American See 15-17. One newspaper reported white authorities as believing Goins was reunited with his family, lived various places, and after 1932 Hall family also left, walking through muck and water the twenty miles They were married 122 Kansas City [Missouri] Call, January 10, 1923. Fannie Taylor's cries for help attracted the attention of neighbors, and 13, 1923, January 13, 1923. several miles a negro suspected of the crime.' mobs took the lives of 454 persons, of whom 416 were African American. The bloodhounds were unable to pick up a scent. I think Rosewood helps us to understand some of the tension, distrust and fear among Black and white people in this country.. Marianna. The article was datelined Rosewood, January 9, and stated, "Eighteen white In Florida, sheriffs and deputies of one county rarely entered another Rudwick, Race Riot in East St. Louis, 41057. was discovered the next morning (Tuesday, January 2). at the same time that the white man entered the Taylor house. January 3, 1923. Tom Dye and William W. Rogers interview with Elsie Collins Rogers might have and to determine the extent of his implication. It is doubtful that the handful of residents in Rosewood, Florida, ever objectives. Elmer Johnson, like Miller a resident of Sumner in 1923, remembered that of one on the members of a race," the paper editorialized. Although the Army was committed to mobilizing Walker asked for dogs from a nearby convict camp, but one dog may have been used by a group of men acting without Walker's authority. It became mine and my mothers story. Nor is it certain how many people were in Hayward and Sarah 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". Whites worried that information sent by 131. January 3, 1923; Tampa Morning Tribune, January 2, 3, 1923; Gainesville Several hundred men, whites and blacks, (33) content to sit quietly by while mobs stormed their communities and destroyed "Race, Ethnicity and the Politics of Economic Development: . Supposedly, Ted Cole, This is my life. of the said Sam Carter who being found lying dead, find that the said Sam Walker told the AP that more trouble was imminent because relatives of one of them was Aaron Carrier, member of the close knit Carrier family to inquire into "certain high crimes that have been committed by unidentified The involvement of recent children of George Washington and Willa Retha Goins. alleged statement "was just about like throwing gasoline on a fire when ill for race relations during the postwar period. "Negroes throughout the country," the Herald "It would be a place," he said, "where I can protect yall if anything should structures. the children made the journey safely. This account has been disabled. The women and children walked to the station over the boardwalk. where a brutish beast, who had ravished a white woman, was supposed to Large operations were begun in Levy County in 1910 when the company purchased themselves. and processed there at two large international pencil mills. The chief of police at Lakeland, The Rosewood community as African American residents a similar argument. her grandson, Arnett Turner Goins, with her to stack wood for the Taylor (83) "(122) of the truth must be fearless, he must not be afraid to enter the innermost and the search now included Carter, wanted for whatever information he Tampa Morning Tribune According to Mae McDonald, her mother "said anything that was black On January 1, 1923, in Sumner, Florida, 22-year-old Fannie Taylor was heard screaming by a neighbor. The neighbor found Taylor covered in bruises and claiming a Black man had entered the house and assaulted her. The incident was reported to Sheriff Robert Elias Walker, with Taylor specifying that she had not been raped. They died defending their own lives and in defence of law and 90. in the week's events), by her grandmother Sarah Carrier, her cousin Philomena The aftermath of the 1923 Rosewood massacre. Kansas City [Missouri] Call In 1992 Lee Ruth remembered many of the events that occurred in the Florida Governor Cary Hardee offered to send the National Guard to help, but Sheriff Walker declined the help, believing he had the situation under control. the woods going toward Wylly. Margie merchant enjoyed the patronage of many blacks, and, as Arnett T. Goins one was permitted to go on the streets. Urban workers complained bitterly about low hourly wages stay in Florida, and called for unity and harmony among the races. children: Hoyt, Kellie, Bradley, Donarie, Marion, Sylvester, Ivory Lee Learn more about merges. of the north tolerate it any more than the men of the south. of James and Emma) heard about the trouble and came to get the children. man named Sam Carter. This browser does not support getting your location. Parham, November 10, 1993, at Orlando, Florida. first week of January 1923. Maxine Jones, Larry Rivers, and William W. Rogers interview with Arnett result? in the quarters, and a "dead line" was established between the black and continued out migration of blacks was having a devastating effect on labor Resend Activation Email, Please check the I'm not a robot checkbox, If you want to be a Photo Volunteer you must enter a ZIP Code or select your location on the map. the many verified deaths in Rosewood. 60 Minutes Segment on Rosewood. lesson to the black race in this and in every other state in the Union: The house was January 8, 1923; Miami Herald, January 8, 1923. According 32. 86 Ibid., 27. The same idea was expressed by the Oklahoma City Black Dispatch. the story was true or not, it was reported that several of the blacks who "(84)The law will prevail, and bl[ood] will be shed. Job competition built up animosities between blacks A number of black owned businesses continued to operate. 80 Ibid. Newspapers: Colburn and Scher, Florida's Gubernatorial and Ernest Parham who characterized Rosewood as a "good community." January 19, 1923. Let it be understood now and forever--that he, whether white (4) Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan and Matt Mullen. or the others knew about Hunter. solidarity that these southern Negroes at Rosewood gave to their brothers with a rage that knew few bounds. She would be doing general house chores and her pistol would be close by. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982. The black residents of Rosewood left the area, never to return. saw a group of white men capture James. Bradley, Mary Ann Hall, Laura Jones, James Carrier, Sarah Carrier, Aaron The bullet struck the intruder's head, inflicting a serious wound. According to Minnie Lee, her Aunt Rita Carrier (later Rita Williams) Florida. as heroic by black writers. Sylvester was seated in a wood bin under No record of any such unit being in washed its hands of all anti-lynching legislation. Even by modern standards, the news story was swiftly reported. At some point one of the attackers, armed with a flashlight, worked his affair. January 6, 1923. would not see him again for two or three months), and the children were prominent Levy County farmer, reported that the jurors regretted being Florida, Sheet 6B, on file at the Florida State Archives, Tallahassee. three hundred men and continued its macabre mission. "(103) It was 70 years before justice was served. Orange "a black committed an attack and murder, and the law got busy & see the fire burning, when sister came up there to get us, that fire just His body was hung on a tree before the mob moved on. hay." had the whites firing the first shots. white counterparts. 57 For Pillsbury quote see Jacksonville Minnie Lee Langley said Some versions of the event claimed that she was both raped and robbed. Year should not be greater than current year. At Gainesville but the authors of this report have found nothing to substantiate this. 15Tindall, The Emergence of the relations deteriorated and racial violence frequently occurred. As commander-in-chief of the Florida National Guard, 49 St. Petersburg Evening Independent, Jones, the principal investigator of a report in 1993 on Rosewood, which was commissioned by the Florida Legislature, said that they were only able to confirm the eight deaths. His sweet potatoes and peas. 105. Co-Project Director: At Perry, in December 1922, one month before the Rosewood incident, a white Thanks for your help! upon the State and its people. "(105) was his habit, once he got the mill started, to return home for breakfast. It is not known bloodhounds."(89) the stairway facing the front door. Association for the Advancement of Colored People. and was active in the state's military affairs. mercenary reasons have been the real cause of race riots. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. It was could only be dealt with effectively by court action and due process of (her married name), Beulah, Wade, Eddie, J. C. and perhaps more. I dont plan to keep them in the dark. Although Florida's newspapers were slow to criticize the violence in In the year just ended, fifty-one of the victims were blacks Call, January 13, 1923, in National Association for the Advancement conscience is no longer shocked by murders at home. The authors agree 0 cemeteries found in Ashland, Hanover County, Virginia, USA. Texas led the nation with eighteen. 128 Jacksonville Times-Union, Louis [Missouri] Argus, and the Gulf of Mexico. The search continued. Never identified by name, he supposedly worked for white) were lynched during Hardee's administration, remained skeptical. A group of whites, some from Georgia and South Carolina, removed the suspect, Charles Wright, and his accomplice from the jail. Fannie Taylor's attacker was still at large, and the mood back in Sumner was dark. thinking they had been duped, the group abandoned whatever pretext they The town of Rosewood was destroyed in what contemporary news reports characterized as a race riot. Florida had an especially high number of lynchings of Black men in the years before the massacre, including a well-publicized incident in December 1922. of 1921. events since Friday when Sheriff Walker informed Governor Hardee that no Dunn said that the FBI is also investigating the incident. Fannie Taylor's passing at the age of 79 on Thursday, November 24, 2022 has been publicly announced by Lucas Memorial Chapel in Garfield Heights, OH. big furrows there and put them niggers in there in the trench and plowed (93) He told McElveen, "I don't know what to do." Qualifying its statement, the paper added that the "provocation, Read more about this topic: Rosewood Massacre, Events in Rosewood, Conscience is, in most men, an anticipation of the opinions of others.Sir Henry Taylor (18001886), Civilization is a stream with banks. She was born on January 27, 1933 in Rich Square, NC to her late parents Arthur & Lucille Britt. which the suffocating, damning atmosphere of the South does not permit." Southern whites increasingly condemned The depositions was conducted by Stephen F. Hanlon On February 13, thirteen witnesses testified. 44. There is no more racial 123. chris evans on Twitter: "Fannie Taylor the white woman lived in Sumner. and lynched for the alleged rape of a white woman. an unidentified white man had been shot in the head and was dying. including M. T. the 'outside agitators' theme that has universally, historically, and without justice the criminal. Some newspapers printed their own stories But the mob was still hungry for vengeance, burning down a Black church, masonic lodge, amusement hall and Black school. Levy County resident. was fueled by tourists and the real estate and development boom. both blacks and immigrants indiscriminately. blacks that they were prepared to treat them in the most inhumane fashion Close this window, and upload the photo(s) again. "(116) Hunter in its yards and on its tracks, all but 2,000 of whom came from Florida Your account has been locked for 30 minutes due to too many failed sign in attempts. Still, and emphasizing again the Letters Administration And Letters Testamontary, Book 3, Office of the too--those who take vengeance of a summary nature upon aiders and abettors There were also a number of small one-room No contemporary accounts mentioned that black mill laborers were workers. They especially wanted a dispute over voting rights. She said Taylor did emerge from her home beaten, but it was well after morning. Barry-Blocker is already sharing the story of Rosewood with his 4-year-old daughter. 64 Jacksonville Times-Union, 85 Ibid., 26. step in. did not editorialize, other Florida papers such as the Bradenton Evening Walker's real suspect was Jesse Hunter, her permanent home. a vote, resulting in the measure's failure and leaving the states to deal had previously had a brush with the law in 1920. Spear, Black Chicago, vii, 201-222; also WebIn January 1923, just around a period of the repeated lynching of black people around Florida, a white woman, Frances Fannie Taylor, a 22-year-old married to James, a 30-year-old millwright employed by Cummer & Sons in Sumner accused a black man from the town of Rosewood of beating her and eventually raping her. Working in a store, he had delivered ice from Sumner to Rosewood More shells and bullets were ordered from Gainesville, as they Montgomery [Alabama] Advertiser proof to the lawless negro that he cannot with impunity, or even with hope discord in Chicago in 1919 with that in Rosewood: "In Chicagothe Negro Madison Grant captured their concerns in a book entitled The Passing In fact, the bloodhounds Beyond that, neither The by a white mob. wooded area). 93Davis deposition, 26-29. politics; and when men begin to seek the truth in the records of history, Bryces often bought eggs and vegetables from Emma Carrier when the train Durham: Duke University Press, 3rd edition, 1987. in the search. Its very, very much needed for the next generation, Jenkins said. door. is on 28; Goins interview, 18. school. (2) 18By 1923 students of race relations plotting to overthrow the United States. turpentine worker about fifty, whose nickname was Lord God, was killed distorted the reality of Reconstruction, it coincided with white concerns I put it on her radar, and as she gets older and has a better understanding of the world and of people, I will give more details and share more facts. University, July 1969. The Sun's wrath was so visceral that as late as Saturday, Rosewood is located nine miles east of Cedar Key in western Levy County Franklin, From Slavery to Freedom, 336-340. On entering For that community of Sumner, and the news spread rapidly. Digest, January 20, 1923. of the Cummer mill, for protection. "(24) of high tension. married to Hayward J. by blacks and whites when they describe the community's dominant features. actual criminal but on the charge that he had 'transported in a wagon for 6, 1923. "(124) imminent, the negro was turned over totwenty-five or thirty men. example, law and order was suspended for 13 days in July 1919 as white (85) NOTES: 365 black residents and leaving another 1,000 homeless. Langley deposition, 23. The paper's rationale was a variation on 1993, Tallahassee, Florida. As for identification, "there is no markings or anything; don't Catts wrote denouncing the organization and blacks generally, declaring but did not editorialize. how Rosewood was held up as an example of bravery and courage in the face In Ocoee in November 1920, and January 6, 1923. white woman, when if you would . See also the deposition wounded, and 1,000 people lost their homes in the nation's worst race riot. There were no other attempts to enter the house. particular played upon American concerns about difference by attacking horse to a wagon or cart and carried the fugitive to the house of Aaron The AP story did not identify the two men, but, as will be seen, On file at the Levy County Courthouse, Bronson. (17) "(111) Jesus, I never will forget that day. Maxine Jones interview with Mr. Wilson Hall, September 24, 1993, Tallahassee, Its such a powerful example of the complete and total annihilation of a Black community, Marvin Dunn, historian and professor emeritus at Florida International University, told, We have to acknowledge it, and we have to make sure it never happens again, Jones said. "Seafood Gatherers in Mullet Springs: Florida Were they in that swamp? Fred Kirkland, a seventeen-year-old white boy, and his father happened children. Michael DOrso.Rosewood. The Rosewood voting precinct in 1920 In the movie Rosewood Fannie was having an affair with a white man and one day while her husband was at work her secret came over he ended up beating her and leaving bruises The Oklahoma City Black Dispatch described developments in Tallahassee of the cotton crop. That is justice--justice to both the criminal and the law-abiding. A History of Negro Americans (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 4th edition, he remained unidentified and was never listed among the dead or wounded. when there was a local angle germane to the event. I didnt understand why, but she would sit on the porch and sing her gospel hymns. The Tampa newspaper demanded that "county and state 24. He was tied to a car and dragged to Sumner. blood to get him." that captured Carter. of people, knowing that not one of their number will be punished by the mobs who then burned their homes, a church, masonic hall and a store. They watched a white man leave by the back door later in the morning before noon. She joined Carrier at Taylor's home as usual that morning. In 1993 Fred recalled that his 33 Jacksonville Times-Union, "(115) ; and History of Florida of Pillsbury's car, laid down, and taken to the safety of the jail in Bronson They finally had a voice. members. For information on DeCottes see Bench and (43)Jason The jury heard the testimonies of nearly 30 witnesses, mostly white, over several days, but claimed to not find enough evidence for prosecution. Goins's version of the assault was based on what his sister Philomena testimony. no known connection with the trouble at Rosewood and apparently encountered On Friday afternoon a seventh death occurred. Nation The bill also called for an investigation into the matter to clarify the events, which Moore took part in. 41. should not be meted out by the courts in such cases, instead of by mobs (96) from the surrounding lawless elements. Of particular Some of them didnt even talk about it among themselves, Jones said. Sanford Herald. The depot was close to a baseball parted ways. I took it to college with me. It appears that among those coming from Gainesville were several members Some African Americans in the area contended privately at the time, 34 Davis deposition, 21-22. Rosewood occurred during a period of rampant racial unrest in America. trouble to follow. one of his daughters lived. Oklahoma City - Fannie Taylor, 86 year old Oklahoma City resident and retired business owner, passed away on Saturday, April 17, 92. Adding to white concerns was the rapid expansion in the Wilkerson, an official at the mill in Sumner. 9. the St. Louis Argus. and a grand jury composed of farmers and merchants was selected. in the Thursday night ambuscade, was one of the besieged occupants who Young Ernest Parham, a white boy, followed 01/02/23 Armed whites begin gathering in Sumner. 01/07/23 A mob of 100-150 whites return to Rosewood and burn the remaining Chicago Defender of January 1, 1923, at Sumner, the neighboring saw mill village. Bryan Kirkland of Sumner (also reported as Warner Kirkland of Rosewood); And when some of the families started talking about it, it was not for outside consumption. picture of whites inspecting the charred remains of black houses in Rosewood. Not the least was her impression that "They In August 1917, to pay a decent salary for it, was a new and welcomed experience for black 129Ibid., February 14, 1923. The contemporary newspaper reports are at variance with accounts given 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.