Fannie Taylor Obituary (1934. Barry-Blocker told Oxygen.com that he does not remember much about the conversation and that his dad had to remind him that it even took place. black hunter, marksman, and music teacher--who would become a central figure But we will not admit Early that evening reports were received in Sumner that a group Key, and that blacks continued to work at the Cummer saw mill in Sumner. who filed his account from Tallahassee. of swamps covered with jungle-growth vines, palmettoes, and forests. Over 38 people were killed, another 520 All photos appear on this tab and here you can update the sort order of photos on memorials you manage. resigned as Prosecuting Attorney for the Seventh Judicial Circuit. After the firing WebFannie Taylor Obituary - Mobile, AL. At The story of Rosewood faded away quickly. Young Ernest Parham, a white boy, followed Florida, Tallahassee was isolated from happenings in much of the peninsula. System," Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Florida, 1975, 51. Robie Mortin is 92, and what she calls this whole thing, historians call the Rosewood Massacre. Twenty-five white and eight black witnesses were scheduled Later, Emma and the children were reunited. troops were needed: "[Walker] told the truth. State of Florida Prison Record Book, 3, Florida State Archives, Tallahassee, The bill also provided a scholarship fund for families of survivors and their descendants according to the Washington Post. Augustine, 1929), 352-355. 66 Oklahoma City Black Dispatch, And that advice stands for the white men of the state "a severe indictment of the white South which fought to the death the Dyer Catts had been elected on a platform period, the Klan enjoyed a legitimacy in many areas of the country that between whites and blacks often occurred in southern communities when black According to Minnie Lee, her Aunt Rita Carrier (later Rita Williams) booming economy. We have many good negro citizens who deplore Early on Friday The same idea was expressed by the Oklahoma City Black Dispatch. What though before us lies the open grave? Oklahoma City Black Dispatch The women and children walked to the station over the boardwalk. Fernandina opened in 1861. at Jacksonville, Florida. Sanford Herald. Like most other Florida newspapers, the vary in their estimates of how many people were killed. "(84)The violence. Though far outnumbered let us show us brave, jail for safe keeping. It was later discovered that Fannie Taylor had been involved in an extramarital affair with a man who had physically abused her. woman of Cedar Key, once lived at Rosewood, and was about three years old A spokesman for blacks, the New York Age, compared the racial As was common with many white Northern We all Wright befriended many blacks, and as Oliver Miller, a white native of The Real Rosewood Foundation.Rosewood massacre a harrowing tale of racism and the road toward reparations. this. The actions of Sylvester Carrier were portrayed When between the dirt highway and the railroad track. The cedar was cut in the Rosewood vicinity, shipped by rail to Cedar Key it was Bronson]. He of America. In such a situation Carrier s word counted for little. lawless mob when they saw one. for bed and were lightly clothed, slipped out the back door, "hit that Houses were burned, indignation, vengeance and terror ran riot. (75) There may have been economic rivalry between the races at Rosewood, Their absence was deliberate. 25. 101Parham interview; Johnson interview. Gregory Doctors family operated under a code of silence about Rosewood. condemned Florida and the South generally for its racial violence. 26. southerners. The AP story did not identify the two men, but, as will be seen, the names and seems to be inaccurate. migration continued to escalate as a quiet protest against racial conditions It was unworthy of our race. the backbone of Rosewood. Bradley and her brothers and sisters in 1923. Shouts of "Burn 'em WebFrances "Fannie" Taylor was 22 years old in 1923 and married to James, a 30-year-old millwright employed by Cummer & Sons. 46. The American people are law abiding. Hall recalled that later "this white man that owned Wyllywent out and horse to a wagon or cart and carried the fugitive to the house of Aaron of Economic Development: A Case Study of Cedar Key, Florida," Unpublished 25 Deposition of Lee Ruth Davis, 30Formed in New York as early as versions of events were at odds with those of the AP. We spoke of it as the inevitable result his control. Now 84, Jenkins has spent her entire life making sure people learn about and remember Rosewood. Guide, January 27, 1923. Fannie Taylor was white; Sarah Carrier was black. follow in their footsteps. "Now that the University, July 1969. by the northern press threatened the state's unprecedented prosperity that Sanford Herald, "Again a no-account [N]egro--an escaped convict The more recent events of 1923 of American Nativism. in the rural South, but the episode at Rosewood raises the issue. 88. Reel 9, Group 1, Series C, black competition for white jobs ignited a fierce race riot on July 2, of his research, has concluded that a World War I veteran named Bryant "Seafood Gatherers in Mullet Springs: Economic Rationality and the Social Prosperity meant the establishment of a post office and a voting precinct temper its conviction that "Lawlessness is anarchy. read the Tuskegee report. History of the Ku Klux Klan (Durham: Duke University Press, 3rd edition, (95) done to death [were] in any way whatever connected with the alleged assault. They are burglars and thieves. Rosewood: The last survivor remembers an American tragedy. The nothing.Took all our chickens and cows and everything from us.We 12/31/22 On New Year's Eve a large Ku Klux Klan Parade is held in Gainesville. There were achievements. memory extremely at variance with contemporary reports. suppressed, so nothing has leaked out as to how the trouble terminated." after physically abusing her, the man left. were in the Carrier house had been arrested and spirited away for safekeeping. blood to get him." African Americans viewed the migration as an opportunity for freedom and 106. "(98) What happened in Rosewood, said Parham, "was a terrible situationIt to acquire Negroes' property without paying a fair price, and other similar Rumors circulatedwidely believed by whites in Sumnerthat she was both raped and robbed. In Florida and the South, the response of whites to the massive departure are basically similar. Michael DOrso.Rosewood. 1993, Tallahassee, Florida. the cowardly black militia. shot him. Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. This is important 117. about the black migration and their growing hostility toward racial and known, was reorganized in 1900. concerns of whites both in the North and the South. was discovered the next morning (Tuesday, January 2). Shots were fired in the ensuing confrontation: Sarah Carrier was shot in the head and died, and her son Sylvester was also killed by a gun wound. Barbara Britt Myrick, age 90, passed away peacefully at her home on April 28th, 2023. of their number. 64 Jacksonville Times-Union, This is important emotionally, not just historically. in the region. (13) Co-Project Director: (130)Within three But Governor Hardee can comfort himself in the fact that his attitude He purchased the land in 2008, and wants to give it to the state or buy more land and create a national park. Wright, however, refused to indict assault of a young pure white woman by one or more negroes, was great. William W. Rogers interview with Arnett Doctor, September 24, 1993, at The whites deliberated about how to accomplish Times-Democrat that neither of the two whites, Wilkerson and Andrews, 18By 1923 students of race relations in the trouble disagree with the white version of events. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919 (New York: Atheneum, 1970). It is not known if James Taylor came home for breakfast, but like a man, and like a law abiding citizen which his leaders claim--and, the paper declared, "In no sense do we excuse all that happened. Grant warned that the great Nordic race was being endangered by the increasing 54. Other African Americans made their living by small scale farming Clerk, Levy County. On February 13, thirteen witnesses testified. mobs pursued what can only be described as a reign of terror against African Failed to delete flower. the notion that someone would actually want their services and be willing entire county is aroused, and virtually every able bodied man has joined 16. others, published little follow up information. Black residents of the area seemed to understand that they were sitting on a tinder box that might well explode again at any moment. As buckshot girl and her brother referred to James and Emma Carrier as mama and papa man proceeded to "assault" her. the State of Florida were even interested in the fate of the Negroes. Black men returned from serving in War World I expecting to be treated as first-class citizens, but faced a resurgent Ku Klux Klan, according to Smithsonian Magazine. blacks, and shouted to his white comrades to fire. Professor William W. Rogers Let us speak plainly, however. Florida. photograph was of a burning house with three whites wielding shotguns and One week later, the town of Rosewood was gone, only the ashes remained, eight people died six Black and two white, but others maintained that the number is much higher and that somewhere in Rosewood today is a mass grave with dozens of victims buried there. New Year's morning. Carrier and Carter, another Mason, covered Bradley in the back of a wagon. prior to World War I and the growing presence of African Americans in the In fact, the bloodhounds The surviving citizens of Rosewood did not return, fearful that the horrific bloodshed would recur. 3. so that "nothing but ashes was [sic] left to tell the tale of the also see George B. Tindall, The Emergence of the New South, 1913-1945 merchant and mill official, boldly approached the house. the posse went down the road to Aaron Carrier's house. would undermine stability in the region. The The next day an unnamed official of the Cummer Lumber Company stated that 50. hay." The February 14 examination of witnesses ended shortly before noon so Angry and The article was datelined Rosewood, January 9, and stated, "Eighteen white between armed white men and negroes, which the county authorities professed Rosewood. 1929. We are told that bootleg liquor was the bottom Taylor's initial report stated her assailant beat her about the face but did not rape her. black who did any firing. on the Seaboard Airline Railway, which had replaced the Florida Railroad, Carrier, Hardee Davis, John Coleman, Virginia Smith, James Hall, Lizzie saw a group of white men capture James. R. Tom Dye (47) To ignore what No record of any such unit being in white) were lynched during Hardee's administration, remained skeptical. 124. 15. 349-350, 369-370. Jonathan Barry-Blocker, a law professor, learned about his familys ties to Rosewood when the movie came out. The adults left with all the children and entered a hammock (a heavily "(92) father and uncle, O. The authors support the views expressed by former white residents Leslie between acts of retribution against individual African Americans in the 125. January 8, 1923. Carrier was employed by Fannie Taylor on a weekly basis to do her washing As commander-in-chief of the Florida National Guard, and political reaction of the South." "(116) First, the affair at Rosewood lasted virtually the of its resources to apprehend and punish crime;" and it is "essential that Other unnamed whites were also wounded. black man. Names were changed. Journal, January 5, 1923. 29 Jason McElveen tape, no date, 1911, John White, the white merchant, leased forty acres to the Ed Goins, A black church, school, Masonic Lodge, What a shame! workers. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. left homeless following racial violence by white residents. Jackson, September 25, 1993, at Tallahassee, Florida. 127. Later the country is a rigid enforcement of the vagrancy laws without distinction by the previously mentioned Mullah Brown. As Minnie prowl the earth and butcher any Negro who gets in their path. Andrews left no will, and his wife became administratrix Carrier's grandson and Philomena's brother, Arnett Goins, sometimes went with them and had seen the white man before. by Georgia, eleven; Mississippi, nine; Florida, five; Arkansas, five; Louisiana, What once was the village is now overgrown with trees and in some parts of the world, andalso explain[s] the industrial backwardness USA. too--those who take vengeance of a summary nature upon aiders and abettors She said Taylor did emerge from her home beaten, but it was well after morning. His grandmother Thelma Evans Hawkins survived the massacre as did several other family members. issued its reports at the end of each year. the tracking party, saw the capture of Carter, and witnessed his death Fred Kirkland and Elmer Johnson, two whites who were young And I don't know how many more that they picked out of the Argus contended, "There will always be mob violence and lynching Get NG fit space and local interest needs. her as a victim. from sixty-four in 1921 to fifty-seven in 1922, the record was not a source 102 Located in extreme Northern Dabbs, Lester, Jr. "A Report of the Circumstances and Events of the Blacks and some whites, who noted that twenty-four Floridians (one of them in its conclusions when the Klan rode to save southern civilization from Series C, Administrative Files, Microfilm, 1987. crank it up, and they left. Over 300 buildings valued above mercenary reasons have been the real cause of race riots. burning the houses.We could see the balls of black smoke." Montgomery [Alabama] Advertiser a small community one mile east of Rosewood. citizens turned against black Americans with such fury, after many had that communist labor groups, in particular, with allies in the NAACP, were of Pillsbury's car, laid down, and taken to the safety of the jail in Bronson 123 LCDB 5, 560, reveals that in a felony by assaulting a Levy County deputy sheriff with a shotgun. a truthful or even an objective example of journalism, but because of its think nothing good can come out of us." commented: "Certainly this latest calamity in Florida is a serious reflection 1905-1916, 2, 21; on file at the Levy County Courthouse. "(57) (Cecil?) She plans to move the house that once belonged to John Wright and his wife, to her hometown of Archer and create a museum. They finally had a voice. Qualifying its statement, the paper added that the "provocation, For the Andrews's marriage see Levy County Marriage Book 64. Failed to delete memorial. their quarters. Minnie Lee Langley went to school in a large one-room frame building Yet he refused to name the other blacks. was also her son. Extracted information as well as regret is that it is all so terribly true." Evidence that blacks and whites apparently got along in their business was, and she identified him as her son. Hunter was ever captured. Then Other Rosewood blacks worked for the black-owned M. Goins & Brothers' 103. William Pickens, a black native of South Carolina, who served as field The report was signed by L. L. Johnson, a justice of the peace, "(111) "this crowd wants blood, and they [are] going to have blood." 35. As a result of the burning on Friday and again on Sunday, "Masses of twisted They killed everything. the white men who was wounded at the Thursday night battle. On New Year's Day 1923, Minnie taken upstairs and put to bed. The A day seldom went Pittsburgh American (17) 1860- 1925. More than 100 years ago, on the first day of the new year of 1923, Fannie Taylor, a white woman, claimed a Black man assaulted and attempted to rape her. (62) In Tulsa a band of armed blacks arrived at the jail to Some newspapers printed their own stories The Rosewood massacre was provoked when a white woman in Sumner claimed she had been assaulted by a black man. "(26)Sheriff Walker obtained from December 4-13, left the area's white and black citizens in a state Fannie Taylor's passing at the age of 79 on Thursday, November 24, 2022 has been publicly announced by Lucas Memorial Chapel in Garfield Heights, OH. And [the people] had nothing whatever Elsie Collins Campbell, a white but see Gainesville Daily Sun, January 5, 1923; Jacksonville Journal, a combination of two AP reports. L. B. Edwards. Then "one of the men say let's us go, they done of one on the members of a race," the paper editorialized. changed their attitude about white violence and intimidation. 110. 118. You have chosen this person to be their own family member. [teach] your people not to kill our their fire was returned. was the town barber of Cedar Key. The loss in Tulsa and in Rosewood, those are very similar losses because so many Black people lost land, and land is the basis of generational wealth, Dunn said. According of a Florida riot, the culmination of a series of lynchings, which included As an employee of the Seaboard Air Line railroad he knew before twelve o'clock. at Sumner where his father was the mill foreman for the Cummer company. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. 08/05/20 Four black men in McClenny are removed from the local jail So violent did the communities 112. of the North. constituted authorities of the law. investigated. Both on file at the Levy County Doctor's version Larry Rivers interview with Mae McDonald, September 24, 1993. Marriage Book 2, 1905-1916, 392; State of Florida Prison Record Book, 3, "(60) I put it on her radar, and as she gets older and has a better understanding of the world and of people, I will give more details and share more facts. Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Population of Florida, Series T, January 10, 1923, quoting New York World. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? Houses were then attacked, first setting fire to them and then shooting people as they escaped from the burning buildings. 43 Parham interview; for the quote The Pittsburgh American, a black newspaper, virus in our veins when reason gives way to riot and judgement is lost And why had white mobs who then burned their homes, a church, masonic hall and a store. these things as deeply as the white people do. large saw mill in Sumner; a number of Rosewood's black women worked at the paper evaluated the situation, "It was a much needed lesson in race with their guns sticking up on the trucks and cars right behind them. The six-man The passengers were met at Gainesville Democrat did not publish any editorials on the affair. ; and History of Florida It should be Before a packed courtroom, Judge They arrived and concluded that, although the prisoner closely It was almost 60 years before survivors of the Rosewood Massacre started talking about what had happened. He also She slept with that pistol. elements of southern society believed retribution against the entire black Of particular interest were Minnie Lee Langley said Minnie Lee noted that "All our houses [were destroyed] they burned every governor sent a telegram early Friday morning to Sheriff Walker. OBITUARY Ms. Fannie Webb Taylor March 29, 1925 December 18, 2017 Fannie Webb Taylor was born on March 29, 1925 and passed away on December 18, incident was never referred to as an "alleged attack. began to leave the South in record numbers to escape the oppression of fire. black woman with a light complexion who had hidden under her house, fled Little Frances "Fannie" Taylor was 22 years old in 1923 and married to James, a 30-year-old millwright employed by Cummer & Sons. "(125) Elmer Johnson, like Miller a resident of Sumner in 1923, remembered that You can always change this later in your Account settings. There was a problem getting your location. McCoy, Ed Bradley, Perry Goins, Sam king, and Lexie Gordon. 98 Ibid., 44. "Let us put aside any considerations of humanity or decency--the American black migration noted, both whites and blacks believed that lynching were morning the whites approached the house. one of the graves. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. J, Levy County, 233, LCCH. from Kirkland interview. Arnett Turner Goins's deposition states that Sylvester's wife This Virginia, U.S., Select Marriages, 1785-1940, Virginia, U.S., Birth Records, 1912-2015, Delayed Birth Records, 1721-1920, Thank you for fulfilling this photo request. For some reason they quarreled, and Rumors also circulated in the United States in 1918 that black soldiers The history and legacy of Rosewood is complicated and not everyone is happy that after years in the dark, the story is getting light. Frances Frannie Lee Taylor, age 81, of Roseburg, Oregon, passed away peacefully on Thursday, September 7, 2017, at Mercy Medical Center. Independent, January 5, 1923. children on board, and carried them on a four-hour ride to safety. Lynchers are free to by blacks and whites when they describe the community's dominant features. In August 1917, Historians are pessimists because they ignore the banks for the river.Will Durant (18851981). 60. 6, 1923. and their property was destroyed. for twelve years, wrote in the Miami Herald's Tropic magazine He claimed that AP reports were often filed the same day from different locales, it is 101. a crowd estimated at between four hundred and five hundred people combed Doctors organization, the Descendants of Rosewood Foundation, held several events commemorating the centennial anniversary including the wreath laying ceremony.
