The Rosewood massacre was a violent, racially motivated conflict that took place during the first week of January 1923 in rural Levy County, Florida. Six blacks and two whites were killed, and the town of Rosewood was abandoned and destroyed during what was characterized as a race riot. Florida had an especially high number of lynchings in the years before the massacre, including a well-publicized incident in December 1922. Rosewood was a quiet, primarily black, self-sufficient whistle stop on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Spurred by unsupported accusations that a white woman in nearby Sumner had been beaten and possibly raped by a black drifter, white men from nearby towns lynched a Rosewood resident. When black citizens defended themselves against further attack, several hundred whites combed the countryside hunting for black people, and burned almost every structure in Rosewood. Survivors hid for several days in nearby swamps, and were evacuated by train and car to larger towns. Although state and local authorities were aware of the violence, they made no arrests for the activities in Rosewood. The town was abandoned by black residents during the attacks. As of 2009, none have returned. Although the rioting was widely reported around the country, few official records documented the event. The massacre was the subject of a 1997 film directed by John Singleton. In 2004 the state designated the site of Rosewood as a Florida Heritage Landmark.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood_massacre

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1578:

King Sebastian I disappeared at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir near Ksar-el-Kebir, Morocco, leading to a dynastic crisis in Portugal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_of_Portugal

1704:

War of the Spanish Succession: A combined Anglo-Dutch fleet under the command of George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles captured Gibraltar from Spain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar

1964:

The bodies of three American civil rights activists were found dead by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents near Philadelphia, Mississippi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_civil_rights_workers_murders

1984:

Exactly a year after he came to power through a military coup, the Republic of Upper Volta under President Thomas Sankara changed its name to Burkina Faso. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkina_Faso

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

gruelling (adj): So difficult or taxing as to make one exhausted; backbreaking http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gruelling

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Throughout American history, there have been moments that call on us to meet the challenges of an uncertain world, and pay whatever price is required to secure our freedom. --Barack Obama http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barack_Obama