Woke
Out of context: Reply #68
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The Rosewood Massacre was a horrific incident of racial violence that took place in the first week of January 1923 in the predominantly African American town of Rosewood, Florida.
The violence began after a white woman in a nearby town, Fannie Taylor, claimed that she had been assaulted by a Black man. Despite no evidence supporting her claim, her accusation ignited racial tensions in the area. A group of white men, believing that the perpetrator was hiding in Rosewood, began to terrorize the town, attacking residents and destroying homes and buildings.
Over the course of several days, the violence escalated, and the town was burned to the ground. The exact number of people killed in the massacre remains unclear because of the inconsistency in the reports, but it's estimated that at least six Black people and two white people were killed. However, eyewitness accounts suggest the number of Black residents killed could have been in the dozens. Many of the survivors fled into the nearby swamps for safety and never returned to their homes.
In the aftermath of the violence, Rosewood was abandoned and the events were largely covered up. For decades, the Rosewood Massacre remained a little-known episode of racial violence in U.S. history.
It wasn't until the 1980s that the event was brought to public attention through a series of investigative news reports. This led to a renewed investigation into the events and in 1994, the Florida Legislature approved a compensation bill for the survivors and their descendants, making it the first instance of reparations for racial violence in U.S. history.
The story of the Rosewood Massacre is a stark reminder of racial violence and injustice in the United States, and the efforts to uncover the truth represent the ongoing process of reckoning with this history. The event has been depicted in several works of literature and film, most notably the 1997 film "Rosewood" directed by John Singleton.