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Black History – Remembering Rosewood
REMEMBERING ROSEWOOD
THIS JANUARY, FLORIDA MAKES HISTORY WITH THE CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION HONORING THE LEGACY OF A PROSPEROUS BLACK TOWN DESTROYED BY RACIAL VIOLENCE 100 YEARS AGO.
BY E. MONIQUE JOHNSON
The new year is usually a time of celebration and renewal, but for the residents of a small Florida town, the first week of 1923 was a time of terror, trauma, and tears. A century ago in Levy County, Fla., the town of Rosewood experienced one of the most horrific events in American history. A racially motivated attack decimated the predominantly African American town and devastated its residents. This massacre has been discussed and dissected for years. Immortalized in a 1997 film starring Don Cheadle, Ving Rhames, and Elise Neal, and directed by John Singleton, the horrifying events of Rosewood are anything but fictional. Residents were brutally murdered, their homes burned to the ground, and they were forced to flee into the swamps.
After decades, more than 60 years of fear and shame, survivors and descendants of Rosewood got justice. In 1994, the Florida legislature awarded $2.1 million (of a requested $7.2 million) to Rosewood survivors, in a historic judgment making them the first, and then only, African Americans to receive reparations from a legislative body in America. A simple request in 2020 sparked this centennial movement. Before she passed away, The Rosewood Family, Inc., historian Barbara Scantling Moore asked family members to pass on the knowledge of the Rosewood legacy to the public. Inspired by Moore’s request, The Descendants of Rosewood, Inc., was born, ready to be a source of inspiration for the next 100 years and beyond.
Today, The Descendants of Rosewood Foundation, Inc., is proud to present the Remembering Rosewood Centennial Commemoration. The centennial anniversary honors the legacy of bravery, determination, and perseverance of the people impacted by the events of 1923.
“The future starts with honoring the lives that were taken, acknowledging the trauma that was left behind, sharing the stories of the past, and celebrating the promise of all that lies ahead,” says Gregory Doctor, co-founder of The Descendants of Rosewood Foundation, Inc., and his cousin of Arnett Doctor, the descendant who led the fight for the families’ historic reparations settlement. “We look at this event as a launch pad for progress and are honored to lead the charge in shaping what the next 100 years looks like for our country.”
The week-long commemoration will be held on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Jan. 8-14, 2023, and will honor the lives of those lost a century ago and explore what the next century looks like. The goal of this carefully curated week of events is to first gather the community for a larger conversation around race in America, human and civil rights, land ownership, and wealth accumulation, and second, to forecast how we move forward in the future and what that looks like for the next generation. Events include the Rosewood Traveling Museum, Wreath Laying Ceremony at the actual site of Rosewood in Levy County, The Legacy Forum, Next Generation seminars, movie screenings, and special guest appearances from some of the country’s leading scholars, activists, and cultural influencers. The University of Florida is the Host Sponsor of the commemoration; Holland & Knight Law Firm, which led the battles that led in the 1994 judgment is the Title Sponsor; Southern Poverty Law Center is the Presenting Sponsor; ONYX Magazine is the Media Sponsor; and it also is funded in part by Visit Gainesville, Alachua County.
For more information about the Descendants of Rosewood or the centennial events, please visit the website rememberingrosewood.com or follow us on social @remember1923 and use the hashtag to tag us #Rosewood100. The event is free and open to the public.
