Did y’all know about the Ocoee Massacre that happened on Election Day in 1920?
I didn’t.
Not until we went to @MemPeaceJustice last week and I saw this lynching monument that left me asking, “What happened in Ocoee, Florida on 11.3.1920?”
I didn’t.
Not until we went to @MemPeaceJustice last week and I saw this lynching monument that left me asking, “What happened in Ocoee, Florida on 11.3.1920?”
The story is horrible. Black people try exercise their right to vote. Denied. They return armed. White mob runs them off. By the next day they’ve razed the town and lynched dozens of people and overnight an all black town becomes white.
Black folks wouldn’t live in Ocoee for another fifty years. Here’s more of the history here as told by a survivor.
I have family in Ocoee, but this is the first time I’ve heard about it in a real way.
Also.
I couldn’t help but think about the “Florida History” class all the Florida kids had to take and I’m pretty sure this wasn’t in it.
Also.
I couldn’t help but think about the “Florida History” class all the Florida kids had to take and I’m pretty sure this wasn’t in it.
But just shows why spaces like the National Memorial for Peace and Justice are so important. I might not have ever learned this history about a town that’s so close to home and where I have family living today.
Also. I wonder if the state of Florida paid reparations to the descendants of the Ocoee Massacre survivors.
