The Rosewood Film vs. The Rosewood Report

Through 1917-1923 there was a huge reign of terror against African Americans, where white mobs would show an abundant amount of violence and torture towards blacks (Rosewood Report, 1993, pg3). From Chicago to Tulsa, to Omaha, East St. Louis, and many communities in between, and finally to Rosewood, white mobs would come and burn down the black communities (Rosewood Report, 1993 pg3). During the second decade of the twentieth century, African Americans began to leave the South in record numbers to escape the oppressions of segregation. For many years, white Floridians had seriously discussed sending local blacks to a foreign country or to a western region of the United States. Many white had such a low opinion of blacks that they were prepared to treat them in the most inhumane fashion whenever they felt themselves threatened by the minority (Rosewood Report, 1993, pg5).Napoleon Broward, who was the governor, proposed that Congress purchased territory, either forgiven or domestic, and transport blacks to such regions where they could live separate lives and govern themselves (Rosewood Report, 1993, pg4). Racial hostilities in the North were enhanced by immigration of black southerners and the expansion black neighborhoods into white residential areas (Rosewood Report, 1993, pg7).
In 1919, race riots that were sweeping the country Claude McKay paid tribute to it by writing a poem entitled “If We Must Die.” Encouraged by his poem and of the NAACP and other black leaders, blacks now appeared in public with rifles at their sides (Rosewood Report, 1993, pg8). In southern communities, black residents increasingly carried weapons to protect themselves against the many lynchings that were occurring. Whites lived in fear, convinced that ...

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... if it were not for him, Aunt Sarah’s family would not have escaped alive; in reality it was Scrappie who lead her family to safety. Although the film does not match the report one hundred percent, I have still learned many things about the massacre in Rosewood. I have learned that blacks in Rosewood were very hardworking and determined people and would not give up no matter how weak they felt. I have also learned that even though most of the whites in Rosewood were against the blacks there were still a few of them who tried to help them any way they could. The Rosewood film and the Rosewood Report has many things in common and

Works Cited

Jones, M., Rivers, L., Colburn, D., Dye, T., & Rogers, W. (1993, 12, 22). Documented history of the incident which occurred at rosewood, florida, in january 1923. Retrieved from http://www.displaysforschools.com/rosewoodrp.html