3: Rosewood Massacre
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This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory.

Hi friends, happy Wednesday or Thursday if you're watching over on YouTube. Hey, how are you doing? I hope you're having a wonderful day so far. My name is Bailey Sarian and this is the Dark History Podcast. 🎵

Woo! I need a theme song for dark history, don't I? Anywho, I'm here to talk about some dark ass history that we never learned in school. Or I should at least say that I never learned in school. If you're new here, hi, welcome, come take a seat by me, don't be shy. If you're interested in learning about people and events that your history books didn't cover in school, but maybe should have, then you'll fit in right in here with us. Okay, look, today's story, it's uncomfortable.

Okay, it's heartbreaking. It's just, it's awful, it's sad. Those are all the words I can think of. It just doesn't make any sense. But with all of that being said, there's really like no sugarcoating this. This is what happened. And it's when we're honest and when we're transparent that we can learn and grow together, you know? But most of all, not let history repeat itself.

So, let's set the scene. It's New Year's Day 1923, and many people are waking up from celebrating the new year. Some of them are still wearing a flapper dress or a suit, tired from dancing the night away in a jazz club, or maybe they're hungover from buying illegal drinks at a speakeasy. Yes, oh yes, it was still illegal to buy alcohol. Wild, right? Of course though, that was more of like the upscale city vibe.

If you were in the country, had little less pocket change to spend or were too straight edge to visit like those kind of illegal joints, then you probably had a quieter evening of staying at home and bringing in the new year with your loved ones, you know? Now, 1923 in general, President Warren G. Harding would die in office.

The Yankee Stadium would be built in the Bronx. And the original Hollywood sign would be built... Oh yeah, Hollywood was originally called Hollywoodland, but we could save that for another episode, babe. But before all of that, on the morning of January 1st, 1923, 30-year-old James and his 22-year-old wife Fanny Taylor woke up at a home in a town called Sumner, a neighboring community of Rosewood, Florida.

That morning, James Taylor goes to work like he did any other day. But while James was at work, something happens to his wife Fanny that, boy, it just triggers a domino effect, a horrific domino effect. It leads to the murders of innocent people, the destruction of a town, and the displacement of an entire community, changing Rosewood forever. Ooh, yeah.

This sounds dramatic. I know, because it is. Welcome. Hi. This episode, friends, we're going to be talking about the Rosewood Massacre. Have you heard of it?

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. This one just, it completely blew my mind. It's like, why in the Waldo did we not learn about this in school? Correction, I can only speak for myself here. So why in the Waldo did my history books not teach this? Rosewood Massacre? Yeah, it happened. Let's discuss and learn together what took place in 1923 Rosewood, Florida. Buckle in, kitty cats. This is just...

What? Yeah, I'm great with words, obviously. That's why I started a podcast. The beginning, great place to start. The town of Rosewood was established in the mid 1800s. White families had moved here prior to the Civil War and black landowners started to move in in the 1870s. It's located in the state of Florida and it's just nine miles east of the Gulf of Mexico. The name Rosewood, it came from the red cedar trees that were all over the land there.

Fun fact alert. Did you know that when you cut open a red cedar tree, the cedar has a pale pink color inside? Yeah.

I guess it's like super pretty, super beautiful. But did you also know that if you cut me open, I've got a little pink inside? Anyways, so they called the town Rosewood after the pink color. Okay, nice, right? Well, as we've learned through history, we can't have nice things. So when people saw the really pretty color that was inside of these beautiful, incredible trees, what do you think they did?

Yes, they cut them all down. They cut them down and they sold the lumber. Now because of this, they made a pretty decent amount of money and it supported the economy of the town, but still, you know, sad for the trees. By the year 1886, the town had developed quite a bit. It had its own post office, a schoolhouse, and there were three churches, one for the white people and two for the black people.

Remember, we're talking about a time that's very much a segregated America. So four years later in 1890, the town began to hit some hard times. All the red cedar trees had been chopped down and without the trees, there's no money to be made, which in turn leads to the town's economic decline. Because of the loss of income and not...

many available jobs, many members of the white community left Rosewood and headed to the nearby town of Sumner. Sumner was appealing because there was a large sawmill which provided tons of jobs, and right now the people needed work, so...

Sign me up for Sumner, you know? So by the year 1900, the Rosewood population had now shifted to a majority black community. Now within Rosewood, there was a really close sense of community. Like everyone seemed to know one another and looked out for one another as well. I mean, rarely.

Did anyone need to leave town like to travel for food or for things they may need because they had almost everything right there within Rosewood. In addition to the three churches, schoolhouse, and post office, Rosewood also had a train station, which will become important

important later, a general store and a sugar mill. Plus, if you were looking for some fun, they even had a Rosewood baseball team. What I'm getting at is Rosewood was overall just a nice place. So for over 20 years, the people of Rosewood stayed within Rosewood and the people of Sumner, the neighboring town, they stayed within Sumner. They coexisted, they had their own communities going on and they were just doing their own thing. But

Unfortunately, that peaceful time was about to end because some shit was a-brewin'. But before we get into what was a-brewin', let's pause for a word from our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep.

While you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance. It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts.

discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner, and more. So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24, 7, 365 days a year so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

This is an ad by BetterHelp. What?

What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better, even when it's impossible to make time for them. Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow.

Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash darkhistory today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash darkhistory.

Okay, remember, it's January 1st, 1923. Our young couple, James and Fanny Taylor, who are white, are waking up on the first day of the new year. And James is like, goodbye, Fanny. Like, I'm off to work. I love you, babe. You know? And Fanny is like, oh my God, yeah. Have a good day. Mwah.

Whatever, that's probably what they did. Anyway, so James leaves his wife Fanny home alone because he has to go to work. He works at the sawmill in Sumner, which was about one mile east of Rosewood. Now, while James is at work milling saws, Fanny, who's back at home, rumor had it someone had attacked her.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. The neighbors heard screams. They heard screams coming from within the Taylor's home. And they were like, oh my God, you know, like what's going on? Screaming. Oh.

So for you and I, we'd probably go and like check it out, right? We'd be like, oh my God, they're screaming. Are you okay? But for Fanny's neighbors, they heard the screams and then they just left it alone. Great. Yeah. Awesome. So some time goes by and James comes home from work. And when he gets home, he sees that Fanny has a big bruise on her face. It's clear that somebody had hit her pretty badly. So he asked her, you know, who did this to you?

And Fanny tells him that a black man assaulted her. She's like, I don't know who it was, but it was definitely a black man, according to Fanny. I mean, this could be possible. This guy came in, randomly beat her, I guess, in her own house. But remember, like this is a small town. In fact, both Sumner and Rosewood were so small that most people recognized one another. So are you sure, Fanny?

Are you sure that's who you saw Fanny? The fact that Fanny like could not name the person who attacked her, that should have been the first red flag, okay? That maybe this person that quote unquote attacked her was not a resident from Rosewood. I'm telling you, I'm not kidding you. If you lived in Rosewood, you would know your neighbors. Everybody knew each other. But Fanny would most likely know this person because again, the likelihood of her not knowing is pretty slim to none. So...

Sure, Fannie. Sure. Again, because it's the 1920s, unfortunately, this is a time when a white woman made bold claims of being attacked by a black person. Nobody questioned it. They just believed it to be true. So they didn't question Fannie's story for one second. Like, oh my God, she was beaten by a black man. Like, we are so angry. And nobody wanted to like double check and make sure she wasn't lying. They just...

Went with it. People are talking within Rosewood, okay? And this story about Fanny gets back to a woman by the name of Sarah Carrier. And she's like, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. That's not true. Sarah said that she was at the Taylor's home the morning of that so-called attack. And not just that, but her granddaughter was there with her. And neither of them

saw a black man attack Fannie, let alone even enter their house. Well, you're probably wondering, Bailey, who the hell's Sarah? Okay, well, Sarah, she had been working for the Taylors for quite some time. She was there that day with her granddaughter doing the Taylor's laundry. Now, Sarah said that she actually saw a white man leaving the Taylor house that morning. She said she never saw a black man come by the house

all day. Now get this, get this. Sarah recognized this white man. She had seen him come by the house once or twice before. Hmm.

Sarah had believed that this man and Fanny were having some kind of winky dinky, if you know what I mean. Sarah said that this man was actually the guy that beat Fanny that morning and that she was just lying to cover her ass because she's probably having an affair and she doesn't want people to know.

Fanny. So Sarah's version is now going around town. It's spreading like wildfire within the black community. They all 100% believed her. Why would she lie? Why would she lie? Unfortunately though, the white voices were louder within the community and made it very clear that Fanny was quote unquote not a liar. She was telling the truth. Okay.

I freaking roll, right? It gets a lot more traumatic. Talking amongst the accusers, a name comes up, Jesse Hunter. And they think, they're discussing, they're like, hey, Jesse Hunter, this is our guy. This is the guy who did it. Who's Jesse Hunter? Okay, now

Now, Jesse Hunter was a black man who recently escaped from the nearby prison. Now, because Jesse was a black man who recently escaped from prison, while they're believing he must have done it, must be the same black man that attacked Fanny. Note my sarcasm. Mind you, there was absolutely 100% zero evidence that Jesse was the perpetrator. Mm.

But that doesn't matter to them. They've got their minds set on Jesse Hunter and they go out looking for him. While out looking for him, the county sheriff, Robert Walker, he joins in on the search. Now this county sheriff was able to get a bunch of other white men together to form what was called a posse to help with the search.

Now, this isn't like your normal posse today, like a group of friends hanging out. Back then, a posse was a more formal thing. It was an official group of men that a sheriff could organize in case of an emergency. And this, to them at the time, well, this was that kind of emergency.

The sheriff would pull in some guys from around town. I don't know how he picked them, but he did. And he made them his temporary deputies, which is wild to think. Just ran it like, "Hey you, you're deputy now." Like that's, you were allowed to do that. So the County Sheriff got the posse together and they start searching for Jesse.

Now, they were determined to catch him and punish him for his alleged attack towards Fanny. The posse even went down to the local prison to borrow a pack of bloodhounds to track Jesse's scent. I mean, they were seeing red. No common sense going on here. The posse, they hear that Jesse was last seen with another black man named Sam Carter, who worked as the local blacksmith. Now, this alleged sighting has never been confirmed, but...

They don't care. Now, remember, again, I've said it a hundred times. It's a small town. So they know exactly where Sam Carter lives and they head straight to his house. They barged in. Okay. And they interrogated Sam and asked like, where's Jesse? And they're demanding it. And they're like, where's Jesse? We need to know where he is right now. Where is he going? Where's Jesse? But Sam, he couldn't answer their questions because, uh,

Yeah, he didn't have the answers, you know? He doesn't know. He has no idea what's going on. Of course, the posse doesn't believe him. They were convinced that Sam, he knew something, okay? Because they are convinced of this, they get swept up in what becomes this angry mom mentality. So they forced Sam out of the house, they kidnap him. The posse's thought process was that if they torture Sam, like they can probably get some answers as to where Jesse is.

So they kidnapped Sam. They hung him from a tree by his neck, pushing Sam to tell the quote unquote truth.

Mm-mm. Sam, he was telling the truth the whole time. He didn't know where Jesse was, but that's not acceptable to the posse. They're hell-bent on their mission of quote-unquote justice. They shot him to death and left his body in the road between Rosewood and Sumner. Sam Carter was only 45 years old. This is just the tip of the iceberg. So by that night, the original posse, which was...

You know, it was just kind of small at first. Oh, babe, babe.

It had now snowballed into a freaking mob. Oh yeah. People were talking and the neighboring towns got word about like what had taken place and that this manhunt for Jesse was going down. So a bunch of rando white men come out of the freaking woodwork. It was like, where'd you guys come from? They just showed up. There was no official count of how many men joined this riot, but

But that's exactly what it turns into. A freaking riot. And this is

is when the massacre begins. I know, this is a little heavy. We're just gonna take a little moment here, a break for us. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

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Your cash back really adds up. - The death of poor Sam Carter was the catalyst for what was about to become the Rosewood Massacre. The posse is still out searching for Jesse Hunter. Remember, the prison escapee who the mob believed beat Fanny? But now, but now, the posse searching for Jesse

It's growing bigger and bigger and more white men are joining this mob from all over Florida. Because this mob had grown to like such a big, a big site, members of the community, families, both black and white could sense that things were getting out of control. Violence was a brewing and this no longer feels like it was just a search for Jessie.

It was turning more aggressive, angry, hate-filled as this white mob was now using this as an excuse to destroy everything in sight. So the black community is terrified by what they're seeing happening in their own town of Rosewood. They thought that maybe if they got together in a large group in like some of their homes, there would be safety in large numbers protecting them. So they did that. A couple of days go by and on day three,

There's another rumor spreading around that Jesse was actually hiding in one of the homes that they missed back in Rosewood. And the home was none other than Sarah Carrier's house. Do you remember Sarah Carrier from earlier? She's the one that who did the laundry for the Taylors, who told the truth, who had the real story. Sarah, yeah. Sarah's son, Sylvester Carrier, he also lived in the house with her.

Now, there was some tension between Sylvester and the people of the white community because he was known for speaking up for himself and protecting the women in his family, which I know, what's wrong with that? There's absolutely nothing good for him. Good for him. I know, I agree with you. But again, this is the 1920s. It wasn't smart, quote unquote smart, to stand up for yourself or others towards a white person.

Unless you wanted some issues. So with all of that being said, it's kind of not surprising when the posse looked at Sylvester as their next target. Now, in addition to this angry mob coming their way, Sylvester and Sarah also had another problem. They were keeping a lot of children from the community within their home.

Although the exact number wasn't known. You see, their home was close to a swamp, which in turn made a great location to hide because it provided cover. And it wasn't easy to walk around in, making it hard to be followed or even get caught. Unfortunately, the swamp would come to be their best protection. On the fourth day of this riot, January 4th, the white mob is headed for the Carrier home.

home. Sylvester wasn't going to just hide and do nothing. He was going to defend himself, his family, the children, his property, and it was about to get violent. When the mob gets to the

I'm sorry, but they shoot the carrier's dog. I know, they just like freaking shoot the dog. One of the guys in the mob, he calls out to Sylvester. He's like, "Hey, come out here and present yourself. Like, come face us." So, some time goes by and they're getting no response. So, now they're frustrated. They're pissed off. Two of the white men from the mob, they decide to walk up onto the porch and start kicking down the front door.

These two men were Henry Andrews and Polly Wilkerson. And it's Wilkerson who ends up kicking in the front door. So inside of the home with Sylvester and Sarah amongst the children, there was a nine-year-old girl named Minnie Lee Mitchell Langley. She said that Sylvester saved her that day.

Minnie recalled when Sylvester put her in a safe spot under the stairway while they got ready to fight. She also said that he got behind her at one point, put a gun on her shoulder pointing it at the front door, and waited for Polly Wilkerson to kick the door down. And when Polly finally kicked that door down, Sylvester started shooting to defend themselves. They would end up killing both Andrews and Wilkerson. Great, you know? Good.

Can I say that? Well, I did. But listen, once the mob realized that Andrews and Wilkerson were shot and killed, it was not good. They were raging, okay? They were livid. They were fuming and a gunfight then ensued. Sadly, Sarah Carrier and her son Sylvester, in the middle of this crossfire,

were both tragically murdered. The mob keeps shooting and they don't freaking care who they're hitting. The only reason they eventually stopped firing was because they ran out of bullets. Great. Now, we don't know how many men, women, and children hiding in the house with Sarah and Sylvester survived, if any, but what we do know is that the ones who were able to sneak out of the house, they went and they hid in the swamp.

They escaped, but not before they saw things that they wouldn't ever forget. One of the children, Arnett Goines, spoke later about their struggle to escape. Goines said he remembers them staying out for two or three long January nights in the cold swamp.

scared for their lives. But after days of waiting, they were able to escape the mob. Now the guys in the mob are pumped with adrenaline and anger and they are ready to cause more destruction. They decided to set fire across several houses and a church on their way back home.

So this was no longer about Fanny or Jesse. This was just a mission to destroy any property owned by the Black community in Rosewood and the surrounding areas. With the mob on the move, the Black people living in Rosewood began to flee the town in a hurry. They knew that the mob would be coming back wanting revenge for the murder of Andrews and Wilkerson.

they weren't gonna just let that go. So many hid in the cover of the swamp like the kids did, thinking it would be hard to find them or catch them in there. Within Rosewood lived a man named John Wright. Now John Wright was well known within the black community. He was a white man but he was friendly to his neighbors. Again this is a different time period right? And John he wanted to help protect them in their time of need. He's seeing out his window what's going down in Rosewood

And he wants to open up his door and help the community. These are his neighbors, his friends, his family.

He can't just sit back and watch it. Because John was white, the mob didn't even think about burning down his house. No, no they did not. They were like, "Nope, he's white, he's good, save his house, but burn all these over here." There were also white families in Sumner who sheltered and protected people who they knew, often people who worked for them. Friday morning on January 5th, 1923, it's now day five of the Rosewood Massacre. Things have been pretty bad so far, but

Shit's about to get even more real. 200 armed white men come storming into Rosewood and they're coming from all over the state to be a part of this action. With those 200 armed white men, some were even members of the Ku Klux Klan. As you can probably imagine, this is not good, this is very bad. Why are they even here? How did they get here? Like, why are they here?

What are they doing here? There isn't even much information as to how these guys knew what was going on, but what we do know is that they showed up. So the group, it's gotten a lot larger, right? And they were causing way more damage and destruction. They burned more homes. They burned the second church, the Masonic Lodge, and the schoolhouse. They even burned the baseball field too. Just everything.

Complete and utter destruction. Everything is gone except John Wright's house. So at this point, it's hard to know how many black residents are still left in their town. Those who could, they ran for the swamp. But unfortunately, those who were too old or sick to run, they were trapped there.

and the members of the mob shot them on sight, such as Lexi Gordon. She was a Rosewood resident. She ran from her burning home that day, trying to escape when she was shot in the back and killed. Not just killed, she was murdered. The same day, a man named Mingo Williams was also murdered. He was shot in the head. He wasn't even from Rosewood. He was literally just in the wrong place at the

wrong time. Mingo was the seventh recorded person to die in Rosewood. So far, there's Sam Carter, Sylvester Carrier, his mother, Sarah, Lexi Gordon, and now Mingo Williams, who are killed by the mob, murdered by the mob.

And then there's Henry Andrews and Polly Wilkerson who were killed while storming the Carrier house. So in the early hours of day six, it's around 4 a.m., some help finally comes for those who were trying to escape this destruction. By this time, word got out about what was going on in Rosewood and everybody was talking about it, right? Brothers John and William Bryce also got word about what was taking place in Rosewood. I know, I know, I know, I know, I know.

It's a lot of names I'm throwing at you, but who are John and William Bryce? Okay, well, they worked as train conductors who happened to pass through the Rosewood train station all of the time. And the Rosewood train station was one of the only things that wasn't burnt down.

So when they found out what was happening, taking place, what was going down in Rosewood, they knew that they had to help out their community. So the brothers pulled their train into the station to allow women and children who had been hiding in the swamp, hop on the train and get back

the heck out of Rosewood as fast as they could. With a train full of people, the Bryce brothers stopped in different cities along the route, allowing the survivors to get off the train and attempt to begin their lives again in a new city. They had left everything behind. They escaped near death, and now they were forced to live in fear and never return to their homes in Rosewood again. To this day, some of the victims' descendants

still live in the nearby towns that they went to like Gainesville, Florida. Now let's take a little pause. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking. Yep, while you're listening to me talk, you're probably also driving, cleaning, exercising, or maybe even grocery shopping. But if you're not in some kind of moving vehicle, there's something else you could be doing right now. Getting an auto quote from Progressive Insurance.

It's easy and you can save money by doing it from your phone. Drivers who save by switching to Progressive save nearly $750 on average. And auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. Discounts for having multiple vehicles on your policy, being a homeowner and more.

So just like your favorite podcast, Progressive will be with you 24-7, 365 days a year, so you're protected no matter what. Multitask right now. Quote your car insurance at Progressive.com to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. National average 12-month savings of $744 by new customer survey who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What are your self-care non-negotiables? The things you know make you feel better even when it's impossible to make time for them.

Like that workout you try to squeeze in between kids' activities, work, and everything else you have going on, and before you know it, it gets pushed to tomorrow. Sound familiar? But it's the moments when you feel like you have no time for yourself when those non-negotiables are more important than ever. Those are the things that keep you strong, healthy, motivated, and prepared to take on everything life demands of you. So why not make therapy one of them?

BetterHelp Online Therapy makes it easy to get started with affordable phone, video, or live chat sessions you can do from anywhere, and the option to message your therapist between sessions if anything comes up. Never skip therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. Day January 6, 1923. This is the sick.

and final day of the Rosewood Massacre. The angry posse turned mob that had burned most of Rosewood and left a path of destruction in its wake was now setting out to finish what they started.

They wanted to burn down any property left and kill any Black residents who had not escaped. So they come across James Carrier on the road. James was Sarah's brother and Sylvester's uncle, and he was partially paralyzed from a stroke. While Sarah and Sylvester had bravely held down the fort during the attack, he had escaped with the children and had also hidden with them in the swamp.

After, it seemed like, you know, the danger might have passed. So he gets up and he leaves the swamp, hoping to return to his home and just kind of figure it out from there, right? But unfortunately, James, he wouldn't make it.

Some members of the mob, they surrounded him. They marched him to the local cemetery where they then shot and murdered him right next to the fresh graves of Sarah and Sylvester. I know, I know, this is awful, I know, I know.

I know. After the murder of James, the mob just kept setting fire to all the homes and buildings until literally there's nothing left. Rosewood was completely wiped. It was destroyed.

it was gone. With that being said, what we know for sure is that at least eight people died during the Rosewood Massacre, but what hasn't been recorded is the trauma on the community for decades to come. And I should add, it's believed that there are a lot more victims than just eight, but there are eight like on record. So a few weeks go by and in February of 1923, somebody finally speaks up and they're like, "Hey,

Something just happened over here that maybe we should talk about. So they bring it to the attention of a grand jury. The way a grand jury worked, at least back then, was that a prosecutor presents a case to a group of citizens and they can ask questions and investigate the situation and they get to decide if they think anyone should be charged with a crime. It sounds pretty fair, right? The thought of it, the idea of it sounds pretty fair.

But in 1923, unfortunately, this jury would have been all white. So not a surprise when they didn't see anything wrong with what had taken place in Rosewood.

And they chose not to press any charges. No one involved in the massacre was found guilty of a crime. In fact, to make things even worse, no one was even arrested for these murders. It took until the 1931 case of the Scottsboro Boys for any kind of solid evidence.

law pushback to stop black people from being excluded from being jurors. This case, which involved nine black teenagers accused of allegedly raping a white woman, had not just one trial, but a series with all kinds of reversals, dismissals, retrials. I mean, it lasted over two decades.

This whole thing is a wild story. Again, we're definitely gonna have to do it for another time. But after it was discovered that there were no black people in the jury records, there were names that had been forged to make it look like there was, aka they lied. They forged them. Do you get what I'm saying? You get it. Once they realized that the names had been forged,

did the Supreme Court say the Alabama jury selection process was unconstitutional because it was all white and it excluded black people on purpose. This, of course, didn't get rid of the all white juries, but it was a start. And that's important because in Florida, all white juries were 16% more likely to convict black defendants than white defendants. And that's not looking good when you are looking for a fair trial.

fair trial. Like, come on, you guys. No. But besides all of that, the cherry on top of this whole story, all the records relating to the Rosewood Massacre were lost. Gone. Poof. Disappeared. There are no records as to what happened.

Yeah. No, no, there's no, there's no records. There's no records as to what took place in Rosewood. The only way we're able to tell this story of history is by word of mouth. Now we're going to pause for this episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Most of you listening right now are probably multitasking.

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Visit BetterHelp.com slash Dark History today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash Dark History. For the survivors of the Rosewood Massacre, the fear from that day, it lingered. As I said before, many relocated to other towns in Florida, and none of them would end up returning to live in Rosewood.

Some of the victims even went as far as changing their names when they moved because they were afraid that the people in the mob, they weren't going to stop looking for them. They were going to continue to hunt them down until they killed them.

So the survivors, the people of Rosewood, they're living in constant fear. You know, they're always watching their back thinking these guys are going to come for them. And I think we can both agree that's no way to live. Our net doctor, Sarah Carrier's great grandson, said that within the family home, there was like a strict set of rules that nobody brought up the massacre. Nobody talked about it unless the elders brought it up. You just didn't.

On top of that, many of those who participated in the mob were still alive. And Arnett, he recalled that his mother, she knew some of them by their name. It was just psychological trauma and fear that would be passed on throughout these families for generations to come.

The stories from that day lived on within the Black community, not forgiven and definitely not forgotten. There's a saying that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

So while the story was not widely broadcasted, there are those who made it a mission to make sure that this massacre did not slip away or be forgotten in the sands of time. Even without that, the fear and the trauma from this period would affect the survivors' lives forever. Aside from the emotional scars, the pain, the mourning, the fear, there was a huge loss of property and wealth. Which, okay, I know what you're thinking.

Property and wealth is nothing in comparison to losing loved ones.

but it was what they had to pass down to their children or to their families. And because the people in Rosewood, they weren't millionaires, you know, they owned their own businesses, houses, and their own land. That's what they had. That's what they had to their names. All of that was taken from them and burnt to the ground. They weren't just robbed of the land or structures. They were robbed of leaving their legacies and their chance to leave what they built to their children. So,

And you're not mishearing me with this next sentence. 71 years go by. Yes, 71 years go by. Finally, the Rosewood Massacre would properly, I'm saying that sarcastically, be acknowledged. So the survivors, they received some money if they could prove that they were direct descendants of Thors.

property owners. These checks are little more than insult to injury and some were as little as $100 or less, which is like... Avocado! Thank you!

This was actually the first bill in the United States that compensated the black community for a past racial injustice. The black and Hispanic caucuses or groups of lawmakers, they pushed hard to get this recognition in 2020. Yeah, you heard me right. 2020, babe.

The state of Florida started a scholarship for the direct descendants. It would only pay for some of the students to attend college, but Florida also put together a formal commission, which would be dedicated to researching the history of this tragedy. Not only that, it would allow the descendants to share their stories in their own words and their voices could finally be heard. So you're probably wondering, like, what happened to Fannie? There's no record that Fannie ever came clean about the lie.

that she spread. Fanny never told the truth. Fanny got something to say? Let us know. We're watching you.

What remains of Rosewood today? Maybe like there's a big monument, you know, where you can show your respects to or something, you know? Well, for a small town that once had about like give or take 300 people living in it, most people have since left and gone to different communities in the surrounding area. And again, when we said they never came back, they never came back. There's only one house left.

left standing in Rosewood. And guess whose house that is? John Wright's house. Yeah, him, John Wright. Remember? He was the man who opened his door to the community as like a safe house. His house is still there.

I'm laughing because ain't that some shit, you know? Like, wow. You would think this would be some kind of historical monument in Rosewood, right? Right? You would think that, right? You would think that, right? Well, in 2020, so again, last year, the house, it was actually up for sale and it was sold to some random ass family in 2020, which is totally fine. Like you're, you're totally allowed. Yeah. But like, aren't you surprised that this, this house isn't a monument or anything? Yeah.

you know, like maybe protected by the state because it's all that's left of Rosewood. You would think, right? It's what's left of the Rosewood Massacre. You think it would be considered a historical monument or, right? Okay, great. We're on the same page. I'm glad you agree. Well, the Rosewood Heritage Foundation, they've tried to reach out to the family who moved into John Wright's home, but they haven't heard any response. The future of this historical home, it remains unclear.

I don't get it, do you get it? This moment in history is just awful.

right? Unfortunately, though, it's kind of familiar. It sounds a lot like the Tulsa Race Massacre. The Tulsa Race Massacre took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921. And it also started as a reaction to a young black boy who was accused of hurting a white woman and all these murders and rioters destroyed Tulsa. Again, if you've never heard about the Tulsa Race Massacre, I would

I highly recommend that after this, you should take a moment and educate yourself on what happened. I did a full video on it over on my YouTube if you want to check that out, but I would highly suggest you do research and educate yourself on it too. But stories like today, it just showcases decades of violence with effects that still persist today. We need to make sure that we are keeping history honest and transparent because without that,

We're doomed to repeat it. And look, it wasn't until freaking 2020 that they started this foundation to help the descendants. And like, yes, that's amazing. That's incredible. And they've been working so hard to get acknowledgement for it. But at the same time, you're like, what took them so long? You know, I think that's a great question. People like Dr. Edward Gonzalez-Tenant make sure that the story is kept alive, passed on for generations to come, and the community's voices are indeed heard.

He started the Rosewood Heritage and VR Project or virtualrosewood.com. If you're curious to learn more, the link will be in the show credits slash description box. But this project, it's incredible. It is dedicated to the Rosewood victims and making sure that their story is never forgotten since our history books seem to have...

left that section out, you know? These foundations keep the conversation ongoing by building a movement to build memoriams and landmarks, even working towards trying to make Rosewood a national historic landmark.

There has been talks about building museums and exhibits in Florida. I mean, as they should. But for now, there is a sign in Rosewood sponsored by the Real Rosewood Foundation that does share the horrific events that took place in Rosewood in 1923. And that, my friends, is the horrible, awful, dark history of the Rosewood Massacre. Woo!

It's heavy, huh? Stories like this can be really uncomfortable. You know? Very uncomfortable. But they're important. How can we ever learn and grow if we don't know where we've been? And the Rosewood Massacre is a fraction of what's been taking place in our country for a very long time. In the story notes, I'm going to put some further reading if you want to learn more and become more educated with the Rosewood Massacre. I would love to hear from you guys, so if you have Twitter,

Let's scootoodle over there. Let's continue this conversation. Use the hashtag dark history. I would love to hear your thoughts. If you learned from this story, you can also join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes after the podcast airs and also catch Murder, Mystery, and Makeup, which drops every Monday. I appreciate you guys. I love you guys. I hope you have a great rest of your day ahead. Please make good choices. Okay.

And I'll be talking to you next week. Bye.

Dark History is an Audioboom original. Dark History is executive produced by Chelsea Durgin from Slash Management and Fanny Baudry, Darielle Christon, and Spencer Strathmore from Wheelhouse DNA. Video director Trent Barboza. Producer Lexi Kiven. Research provided by Elizabeth Hyman. Writer Haley Gordon. And I'm your host. I'm going to give myself some credit too for writing. Thank you so much.

Really scary. Historical consultants for today's episode was provided by Dr. Edward Gonzalez Tennant, professor of anthropology, University of Central Florida, and Dr. Maxine Jones, professor of history, Florida State University. Without you, we couldn't keep this story alive. Thank you so much for helping us continue the conversation here on Dark History. Amazon Pharmacy presents Painful Thoughts.

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