The Rosewood massacre was a racially motivated attack on African Americans and their neighborhood committed by a white mob in Florida during January 1–7, 1923. At least six African Americans and two whites were killed in the ensuing violence. The town of Rosewood, a majority-black community, was abandoned and destroyed in what contemporary news reports characterized as a race riot (with the implication blacks had broken out in violence). Racial disturbances with attacks by whites against blacks were common during the early 20th century in the United States, reflecting the nation's rapid social changes. Florida had an especially high number of lynchings in the years before the massacre; the great majority of victims were black males. Among these was what was known in the white community as the Perry race riot in December 1922, in which a black man was burned at the stake.
Prior to the massacre, the town of Rosewood had been a quiet, primarily black, self-sufficient whistle stop on the Seaboard Air Line Railway. Trouble began when white men from several nearby towns lynched a Rosewood resident because of unsupported accusations that a white woman in nearby Sumner had been beaten and possibly raped by a black drifter. When the town's African-American citizens rallied together to defend themselves against further attacks, a mob of several hundred whites formed in reaction and started combing the countryside hunting down black people, and they attacked and destroyed the community, burning almost every structure within Rosewood.
Survivors from the town hid for several days in nearby swamps until they were evacuated by train and car to larger towns. Although state and local authorities were aware of the violence, no arrests were made for what happened in Rosewood. The town was abandoned by its black residents; none ever returned.
Although the rioting was widely reported around the United States at the time, few official records documented the event. Survivors, their descendants, and the perpetrators also remained silent about Rosewood for decades. Journalist Gary Moore's exposé in Floridian magazine of the St. Petersburg Times on July 25, 1982, catalyzed a revival of interest in the Rosewood massacre among the mainstream media. The article reported on the 1923 events and explored the intense cultural denial of the event. Academic bodies in Florida had avoided examining or certifying the many witnesses who by then had been located.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood_massacre
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