Rosewood was a community built in 1845, nine miles (14 km) east of Cedar Key, near the Gulf of Mexico. Powered by the timber industry, the community was purely black-populated, with the closest communities around it housing white people. She might not have hoped that it would escalate but upon hearing her lie and noting that in Florida at the time, the charge of rape of a white woman by a black was inflammatory, men from her Sumner community invaded the Black community, lynching a number of them. The blaze lasted for days, dying down on January 8, as the white men continued to pour kerosene on the buildings and churches while shooting anybody in sight or those who attempted to dare stop them. They were defenseless and powerless against these rampaging white men but one man would defy the odds.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 18, 2019 13:41 UTC