Florida in the 1920sUS History

Learning Goal: Students will be able to explain how racial violence impacted the state of Florida in the 1920s.

Outline of Key TermsO Ocoee 1920O Rosewood 1923O Zora Neale Hurston

Ocoee, FL 1920

O Race riotsO In 1920, Ocoee, Florida had

not yet been officially incorporated into a town

O It was merely a settlement of families, primarily citrus growers, outside of Orlando.

O The 1920 United States census placed the population of Ocoee at nearly 1,000 people, 495 of them were African-American.

Learning Goal: Students will be able to explain how racial violence impacted the state of Florida in the 1920s.

Issue: Voting RightsO Several blacks registered to vote and paid the poll

tax but were not allowed to vote by whitesO By nightfall, over 250 Klansmen from around the

state of Florida and white Ocoee residents have collected inside the town and begin a burning spree in the Black section of town.

O The Black citizens flee for their lives; however, many are burned in their homes or shot as they flee the infernos.

O In the aftermath, twenty-five homes, two churches, and a masonic lodge are incinerated; and the death toll is said to be above fifty.

O The land that was fled by the black citizens was divided up and sold for $1.50 an acre. Blacks would not inhabit the city until sixty-one years later in 1981.

November 3, 1920O Zero (0) black citizens now living in

OcoeeO Race riots destroyed the town

Learning Goal: Students will be able to explain how racial violence impacted the state of Florida in the 1920s.

Rosewood, 1923

Learning Goal: Students will be able to explain how racial violence impacted the state of Florida in the 1920s.

RosewoodO On January 1, 1923 a

massacre was carried out in the small, predominately black town of Rosewood in Central Florida.

O The massacre was instigated by the rumor that a white woman, Fanny Taylor, had been sexually assaulted by a black man in her home in a nearby community. 

O A group of white men, believing this rapist to be a recently escaped convict named Jesse Hunter who was hiding in Rosewood, assembled to capture this man.

RosewoodO In response to the allegation by Taylor,

white men began to search for Jesse Hunter, Aaron Carrier and Sam Carter who were believed to be accomplices. 

O Carrier was captured and incarcerated while Carter was lynched.

O The white mob suspected Aaron's cousin, Sylvester Carrier, a Rosewood resident of harboring the fugitive, Jesse Hunter.

Learning Goal: Students will be able to explain how racial violence impacted the state of Florida in the 1920s.

RosewoodO On January 4, 1923 a group of 20 to 30

white men approached the Carrier home and shot the family dog. 

O When Sylvester's mother Sarah came to the porch to confront the mob they shot and killed her. 

O Sylvester defended his home, killing two men and wounding four in the ensuing battle before he too was killed.

O The remaining survivors fled to the swamps for refuge where many of the African American residents of Rosewood had already retreated, hoping to avoid the rising conflict and increasing racial tension.

Learning Goal: Students will be able to explain how racial violence impacted the state of Florida in the 1920s.

RosewoodO The next day the white mob burned the Carrier

home before joining with a group of 200 men from surrounding towns who had heard erroneously that a black man had killed two white men. 

O As night descended the mob attacked the town, slaughtering animals and burning buildings.

O An official report claims six blacks killed along with two whites.  Other accounts suggest a larger total.

O At the end of the carnage only two buildings remained standing, a house and the town general store.

Learning Goal: Students will be able to explain how racial violence impacted the state of Florida in the 1920s.

Consequences of Rosewood

O Town became desertedO Many residents fled north to

Gainesville and other citiesO Increased KKK activity for 2nd time in

Central Florida

Learning Goal: Students will be able to explain how racial violence impacted the state of Florida in the 1920s.

Zora Neale HurstonO A writer of twentieth-century African-

American literatureO Was closely associated with the Harlem

RenaissanceO Grew up in FloridaO best-known work was published in 1937:

Their Eyes Were Watching God, a novel which was controversial because it didn't fit easily into stereotypes of black stories.

O She was criticized within the black community for taking funds from whites to support her writing; she wrote about themes "too black" to appeal to many whites.

Why was she important?

O She called attention to herself because she insisted upon being herself at a time when blacks were being urged to assimilate in an effort to promote better relations between the races.

O Hurston, however, saw nothing wrong with being black: "I do not belong to that sobbing school of Negrohood who hold that nature somehow has given them a lowdown dirty deal."

O She felt there was something so special about her blackness that others could benefit just by being around her.

O Her works were affirmations of blackness and the positive aspects of black life.

Exit Slip: January 3, 2012

O Include name and date (1 point)O 1) Why did the Ocoee Race Riots occur?O 2) What was at least one consequences of

the Rosewood massacre?

O ORO Write a thesis statement responding to the

following prompt: The town of Ocoee experienced a problem because of existing racial tensions in the South.