ROSEWOOD — It's been 81 years since Robie
Allenetta Robinson Mortin set foot here, but little is left of the
town in which she grew up.
On Jan. 1, 1923, a lynch mob descended onto the predominantly
black township and hanged her uncle, Samuel Carter. Mortin's father
whisked the 8-year-old girl and her sister onto a train that carried
many residents to safety as a mob burned Rosewood to the ground.
"We could see the flames from Chiefland," about 25 miles away,
recalls Mortin, 89. "Why? Why burn down the houses? The children
should have had some place to come home."
Mortin returned Thursday to gather with more than 100 people at
the site of the massacre for a "peace and healing" ceremony,
organized by Rosewood descendent Lizzie Jenkins.
Jenkins, president of the Archer-based Real Rosewood Foundation,
says it's the first time survivors and descendants have marked an
anniversary together.
"I felt it was time to come back for healing, peace, forgiveness
and preservation," she says. "When we preserve Rosewood's history,
we preserve America."
What's left of Rosewood is hard to find, nestled among scrub
pines and palmetto off State Road 24, about 10 miles east of Cedar
Key.
Just one organization — a Baptist church — uses the Rosewood
name, and only a small green sign on eastbound State Road 24
acknowledges the former settlement.
At Rosewood Community Park on Thursday, pastors prayed for
forgiveness and descendants lit candles and released white balloons
for each of the victims.
Proclamations and letters were read from Gov. Jeb Bush and other
politicians, and participants sang, "We Shall Overcome."
Records say six blacks and two whites killed during the massacre,
but many descendants suspect as many as 37 died in the attack.
"There were many stories told that there was a mass grave, and I
believe it," Mortin says.
In 1993, the Florida Legislature approved a bill giving the
survivors and descendants $2.1 million. A scholarship was created at
Florida A&M University to study racial injustice.
A historical marker will be placed on the roadside later this
year near the John Wright House, the only Rosewood landmark that
remains. Wright was a white merchant who helped hide survivors until
others could arrange getting them out of town.
Some of the other heroes who helped protect Rosewood residents
escape were white. They included Levy County Sheriff Bob Walker, who
worked 96 hours straight to help as many residents as he could get
out of Rosewood alive.
Walker's niece, Phoebe Walker Hughes, only started learning about
her uncle and Rosewood five years ago when she began researching her
lineage.
"Those things were not talked about," she said.
She rented the 1997 John Singleton movie "Rosewood," and she and
her daughter were horrified at the story. They tracked Jenkins down
on the Internet.
Jenkins attempts to chronicle Rosewood's history began about 10
years ago. Her aunt, Mahulda Gussie Brown Carrier, was the town's
schoolteacher and was determined to keep the stories alive and
accurate.
Jenkins, through her organization, plans to build a museum and
introduce a scholarship in her aunt's name. She also hopes to return
to the site next year with the Rosewood anniversary recognized as a
national holiday.
"It's already a holiday," she said.
The
top stories from the Associated Press.
