Like Judgment Day

January 29, 1996
This account of the destruction of the town of Rosewood, Fla., in 1923 is a significant contribution to American history, the more so because the event was effectively covered up for seven decades. A town with about 150 residents, Rosewood was an all-black community, except for one family. When a white woman in nearby Sumner claimed a black man had assaulted her, the white men of the area spent the next five days in sporadic attacks on Rosewood, shooting black men and driving women and children from the town, which was then burned; the land was later acquired by whites. In many cases the survivors were saved by whites and did not tell their children or grandchildren about what had happened in 1923. In 1982, the son of a survivor, Arnett Doctor, set in motion a chain of events that climaxed in 1994, when the Florida legislature awarded $2 million to the survivors and their descendants. D'Orso (coauthor, The Cost of Courage) has reconstructed the appalling story of Rosewood from sketchy documentation and reticent interviewees. Photos.