The excerpt below is a bit of black history told by a white man focused on Florida history. Therefore, the focus in the original article is on white people too much. And there's at least one spot where he made it seem like black indifference was a major factor in black men not being able to vote despite having the right to vote in 1870.However, the white author of this historical piece goes to the trouble of setting the historical stage for the massacre.
The author talks about the end of slavery, about white southern reaction to reconstruction, about when black men then black women were granted to the right to vote. Because he gives context for the explosion of white violence on election day, you get a sense of knowing a more three dimensional story.
And knowing your history in a three dimensional way is the key to not repeating it in the present.
More importantly, I just plain like it that he told this in story form. So, I suggest you read the entire thing at the link below. But a slice of the story is right here if you just want to get an idea of what happened.
Feeling Rebloggy
Julius Perry, better known as “July” to pretty much everyone in western Orange County, first arrived in Ocoee. Thirty years prior the teenager hopped off the mule-drawn wagon after the multi-day trip from Travelers Rest, South Carolina. He was overflowing with enthusiasm about the opportunities post-Reconstruction era Florida would bring
He and his traveling companions, Mose Norman and Valentine Hightower, walked through the small but bustling downtown of the 1880s village and set their eyes on the pine tree-lined Starke Lake for the first time. They had little but their dreams and a strong work ethic.
Though the shadows of the Confederacy still lingered in Central Florida long into the 1900s, Ocoee was becoming the model for a post-slavery economically integrated Southern town...
ELECTION DAY, OCOEE FLORIDA,1920
After again being forcibly turned away, [Mose] Norman demanded the poll workers names and exclaimed: “We will vote, by God!”
At that time Norman was revealed to have a loaded shotgun (either on his person or in his car) and an altercation ensued. Overpowered and beaten by the butt of his own gun, he escaped from the scene with help from friends (possibly Reverend Edward Franks).
As Norman fled, the now inflamed group of whites — largely Klansmen — convened about what to do about the situation. They determined that they had to bring Mose Norman to justice and set an example for any other blacks who dared threaten their white Democratic monopoly on local authority.
Outraged yet fearful, Norman visited the home of his good friend July Perry on Apopka-Ocoee Road. The battered farmer showed Perry a note he had from Cheney about their legal rights and recounted what happened that day. There was a tense urgency as the two sensed something terrible was about to go down.
By that time it was early afternoon, the increasingly angry white mob headed toward the home of Mose Norman but were tipped off that he was hiding out at the home of July Perry. The “justice seekers” surrounded Perry’s home, from which Norman had long since left.
The group’s leader, a military veteran and former police chief of Orlando named Sam Salisbury, knocked on the door of the wood-framed home. Perry knew they were cornered and reluctantly answered the door. The officer insisted that Perry come with him to which the 51-year-old replied “Yes suh, boss, let me get my coat.” At that moment Salisbury grabbed Perry by the arm and put him in a headlock, thinking he might run. Perry’s daughter Coretha responded by putting a rifle in the officer’s belly. Salisbury instinctively brushed the weapon aside when it fired, shooting the officer in the right arm; he retreated out of the door and rolled on the ground to escape.
With only Perry’s family inside, a hail of gunfire erupted in both directions...
Read The Entire Story Here:
https://medium.com/florida-history/ocoee-on-fire-the-1920-election-day-massacre-38adbda9666e
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