Courtesy of the Gainesville Sun

The small town of Rosewood was forever changed one night in 1923.

My ancestry goes a long way back in both Levy County and Alachua County. For the past 15 years I have worked unceasingly to document and present our shared history of Rosewood.

“You must keep the ‘leg’ in our legacy,” instructed my once enslaved great grandmother, Lizzie Polly, the family’s matriarch and “once upon a time” storyteller who migrated to Archer in 1839 from Jackson, Mississippi, at age 13.

Born into a family of transgenerational historians and storytellers, it was my destiny to become a fifth generation storyteller and historian. My mother named me Lizzie Polly (Robinson) after my great grandmother. I am a direct descendant of Rosewood, the predominantly black Levy County township that was destroyed in a week-long rampage of racial violence in 1923. I was first initiated into the story of Rosewood in 1943, at age 5. As a youngster, I took Rosewood memories to bed with me each night and to school with me each day. I would carry them with me to work, college and church. I was groomed to keep our history accurate and relevant.

My parents, Ura and Theresa Robinson, taught their children that “knowledge is power” and that education is essential. My mother, keeper of our oral history, told me that an aspect of my life’s mission was to research and share the true history of the Rosewood massacre; to be a voice for justice for the survivors and descendants, both black and white. I was to serve as a bridge for healing racial wounds in our culture.

She told me: “When you tell Rosewood’s story, remain open-minded and don’t allow your personal feelings to take control over truth, making certain Mahulda (her sister) has her place in Rosewood’s history.” She perceived that I would meet and embrace white Rosewood descendants as well, taking history to the next level.

On New Years Day, 1923, Rosewood would be forever changed by racism. My aunt, the Rosewood school teacher, and other survivors say a white woman living in nearby Sumner falsely accused my uncle, a Rosewood resident, of attacking her. A mob came to the small town, burning homes, looting property, and killing five black members of the community. However, had it not been for the white unsung heroes (who will be honored at our upcoming awards dinner on Saturday), the Rosewood citizens would not have survived.

Many miles I have traveled in search of the truth, facing bigotry and intimidation tactics intended to thwart the accurate investigation and documentation of this thread in our national heritage.

I received the NAACP Pioneer Award in honor of my ancestors. I worked for the erection of a state historic marker in Rosewood, which was begun by Gov. Lawton Chiles and completed by Gov. Jeb Bush.

“This marker will ensure that Rosewood is remembered and that when the voice of the last survivor is stilled, we will all bear witness to what happened here and learn the lessons of its legacy,” said Gov. Bush.

In 2005 we held the first annual Rosewood Awards Dinner in memory of all Rosewood survivors and descendants. The Second Annual Rosewood Awards Dinner will be held on March 11 at the Paramount Plaza Hotels and Suites, 2900 SW 13th St., in Gainesville. For information about the event, e-mail me at lizzieprj@aol.com. or call (352) 495-2197.

Ronald Blocker, superintendent of the Orange County School System and a Rosewood descendant, will be our keynote speaker. Dr. James M. Davidson and doctoral student Edward Tennant, of the University of Florida Department of Anthropology, are assisting in the process of remembering Rosewood through archival research and a potential archaeological investigation of the former town site.

At the March 11 dinner they will make a presentation of their findings. At the request of my 91-year-old uncle, my next goal is to build a Brown Connection Center on a stunning 29-acre Archer property that we own jointly - the homestead of the Rosewood schoolteacher. The center will honor the memory of innocent men, women and children who suffered or died in the Rosewood massacre.

During Black History Month this year, I escorted students from Jordan Glen School, Job Corp, SIATech, and Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church to Rosewood. I shared the Rosewood story with students at the PACE school for girls, Oak Hall High School and Santa Fe Community College.

Students from Job Corp were so intrigued with the all-white Shiloh Cemetery in Sumner, where Rosewood Store Merchant John Wright is buried, they volunteered to adopt his gravesite and put a state-of-the-art headstone in place.

My parents, especially my mother, strongly influenced me never to vent anger when telling the Rosewood story. For unless we remember, our children will not understand. When we preserve Rosewood’s history, we preserve America’s history.

Lizzie R. Jenkins is President of The Real Rosewood Foundation, Inc., in Archer. She can be contacted at lizzieprj@aol.com. or at 352-495-2197.