"Like Judgment Day"

Paper Summary:

This paper provides an analysis of the book "Like Judgment Day" by Michael D'Orso, which tells a story important in Florida history, a story that was long suppressed but that has recently emerged as one of the worst instances of racial violence in this century. The paper shows that the Rosewood riot, where houses in the town were destroyed and inhabitants massacred following reports of the rape of a white woman, was just one of the many racial incidents that took place in the South after World War I. The incident remains notable because of the enormity of what occurred there and because of the way white society covered up the truth for decades only to have the story revived by a newspaper story.

From the Paper:

"The riot in 1923 began with a report by a local white woman, Fanny Taylor, that a black male had come to her home that morning and tried to rape her, beating her about the head and face. There are numerous versions of what happened that morning, with so many embellishments that it is now difficult to say whether anything took place at all. The assault was supposedly chased off by neighbors, after which the white community rallied in anger and decided to punish every black person in the area. At least, that is what they tried to do. According to one woman who was there at the time, though, it was a white man who visited Fannie Taylor that morning, implying that the story Fanny told was invented to protect her reputation. In any case, the destruction of Rosewood, the massacre of many of its inhabitants, and the beating of others followed her report."

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