THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 22, 1995 TAG: 9507220276
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: FAYETTEVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Forgive Arnett Doctor for being a bit patriotic Friday.
Doctor has had an emotional few months as one of the leaders in the battle to win compensation from the state of Florida for survivors and direct descendants of black families driven from their Rosewood, Fla., homes by an angry white mob in the 1920s.
Some Rosewood family descendants, here for their annual reunion, began receiving checks last week as part of Florida's $2 million settlement in the case in which eight people were killed and the small town was burned to the ground.
And a movie about the massacre, to be directed by John Singleton, may be in theaters by late 1996.
``When we hear things like, `America the Beautiful' or `God Bless America,' we can now from a personal perspective feel that it includes all Americans,'' said Doctor, 53, who lives in Tampa, Fla.
``The key word here is inclusion, rather than exclusion as we have felt for a long time. We now feel we are a part of the state of Florida and a part of these United States.''
The weekend reunion got off to a slow start Friday afternoon after a mixup with a charter bus company in Florida left about 50 descendants more than 12 hours behind schedule. They were scheduled to arrive about midnight.
Doctor, whose great-grandmother was killed by members of the white mob that attacked the community east of Cedar Key, Fla., wore a T-shirt that read, ``Rosewood, Pop. 0, Route 24 Florida'' as about 50 gathered to eat some North Carolina pork barbecue and exchange hugs and stories.
Others, from grandparents to toddlers, wore shirts with the scales of justice on them and the words, ``Victory: May 5, 1994,'' written in red. That's the date Florida settled with the families.
``What (the settlement) says is the state of Florida will never ever allow that to happen again. They are living up to their responsibility as a sovereign government and keeper of the rights of all of its citizens,'' Doctor said.
The violence began on New Year's Day 1923 when a group of whites, angry after a fruitless search for a black man accused of attacking a white woman, rampaged through the community of about 120 people. At least six blacks and two whites died. Almost every building was burned.
State lawmakers passed a precedent-setting compensation plan in 1994, agreeing that government had failed to maintain law and order and protect Rosewood's residents.
As a result, nine elderly survivors received $150,000 each from the state.
But it has taken months for the attorney general's office to sort through hundreds of claims from others who say their families lost property.
Ferman Wingate, a 10th-grade teacher in Silver Springs, Md., got a check for $7,100 in the mail last week from the state of Florida. His great-grandmother lived in Rosewood.
``It was a very elated feeling,'' Wingate said about receiving the compensation. ``The main feeling that I had was that people finally recognized that there had been and still is racial injustice in this country.''
He said he tells his students about the incident each year. At one time, family members didn't talk about the attack, fearful of reprisals.
``It's pretty hard for kids at that age to relate to that,'' said Wingate, who helped host the reunion in 1992. ``I came through the civil rights era, tear gas and all that stuff, and they can't relate to that either.''
John Woods, 54, whose wife's mother lived in Rosewood, used to go through the area to fish along the western Florida coast before he was married.
``That sign always bothered me every time I went through there,'' Woods said. ``You never saw anything. I saw a sign that said Rosewood and then when I went outside the area I saw another sign that said Rosewood. But I never saw anything there.''
Greg Galloway, entertainment attorney for the Rosewood Advisory Committee, said Singleton has been quoted as saying the Rosewood story would be his next project.
``It's been as quickly developed as any feature film I've ever seen,'' Galloway said. ``They are looking at scouting locations in Florida as early as next month.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Lucille Rooks of Lacoochee, Fla., is all smiles in Fayetteville
Friday as she hugs Dorothy Hammonds of Tampa at the annual reunion
for survivors and descendants of the black families driven from
their Rosewood, Fla., homes by an angry white mob in the 1920s.
by CNB