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100 years ago today, Moses Norman, a Black man in Ocoee, Florida, tried to vote.
This challenge to the racial order caused a white mob to lynch voting rights activist July Perry, and with further violence to murder or eventually drive out every other Black resident in the town.
This challenge to the racial order caused a white mob to lynch voting rights activist July Perry, and with further violence to murder or eventually drive out every other Black resident in the town.
Those who attempted to return faced threats or overt acts of violence, including “dynamite thrown into their homes.”
Their property was seized and sold. One local official, a confederate veteran who had fought to preserve slavery, took ownership of some.
Their property was seized and sold. One local official, a confederate veteran who had fought to preserve slavery, took ownership of some.
“SPECIAL BARGAINS: Several beautiful little groves belonging to the Negroes that just left Ocoee,” read his advertisement.
Those who excuse today’s inequalities without recognizing our nation’s history of theft and racial violence do a disservice to the truth.
Those who excuse today’s inequalities without recognizing our nation’s history of theft and racial violence do a disservice to the truth.
For an in-depth account, read the @orlandosentinel's 100th anniversary special report here: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/ocoee-massacre/os-ne-ocoee-what-happened-20201029-n3k7lqdbafg5re3qwxq2g3wnve-htmlstory.html
For more important local scholarship on the Ocoee Massacre, see @HistoryCenterFL's exhibit "Yesterday, This Was Home." https://www.thehistorycenter.org/exhibition/the-ocoee-massacre/
