Rosewood Massacre descendants to celebrate family reunion in Gainesville this weekend
Descendants of survivors of the Rosewood Massacre of 1923 will come to Gainesville to celebrate their family reunion this weekend.
“Gainesville is the old landmark where most of the women and children arrived via train from Rosewood,” said Mae McCoy-McDonald, of Tampa, who is assisting the reunion’s planning committee. “The reunion committee thought it was only fitting that we return to the old landmark. From here our ancestors spread throughout Florida to Waldo, Sumter, DeLand, Miami, Lacoochee, St. Petersburg, Jacksonville, West Palm Beach and Hilliard.”
The surnames of the Rosewood families are Bradley, Coleman, Goins, Carrier, Evans, Robinson, Edwards and Hall, said McCoy-McDonald, 74.
Rosewood is along State Road 24, a few miles northeast of Cedar Key in Levy County. On the morning of Jan. 1, 1923, Fannie Coleman Taylor, a married white woman in nearby Sumner, claimed a Black man assaulted her, though some believe her lover was the real suspect, according to RosewoodFlorida.com.
A mob that included Ku Klux Klan members who were in Gainesville for a rally assembled. In the following days, the mob beat Black residents and burned the town down, according to the foundation’s website.
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The reunion activities will be held in Gainesville from Friday-Sunday, and the public is invited to participate in a trip to Rosewood. However, seats on the chartered bus are for family members only, and others can only ride on the bus if seats are available, McCoy-McDonald said.
The trip will begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Veteran’s Memorial Park, 7400 SW 41st Place, Gainesville, and proceed to The Wright House in Rosewood, escorted by troopers from the Florida Highway Patrol.
The public is also invited to attend the reunion’s worship service, which will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday at Mount Olive AME Church, 721 SE Eighth St. The church will host the service because members of one of the surviving families, the Bradleys, have been members of the church for a long time, said Vivian Filer, 85, a lifelong member of the church and a community activist and historian.
"That family came through our church and I remember Mr. James 'Jim' Bradley being a steward of the church and I remember his prayers," Filer said.
Having the service at Mount Olive is a big deal because it's a chance for the church and the Bradley family to share with others their connection to Rosewood, Filer said.
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The family will gather at the Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center, located adjacent to Mount Olive, after the church service for a closing prayer and meal, McCoy-McDonald said.
"We will give thanks to God almighty for family, the chance to reminisce and share stories from our loved ones, and the opportunity to meet cousins for the first time," she said. "Our focus will be thanking God and asking him to watch over us until we meet again."
Organizers of the reunion are anticipating about 100 family members to attend from as far away as Philadelphia and Fayetteville, North Carolina. The reunion will begin with a fish fry on Friday at Veteran's Memorial Park where family members will register, receive gift bags, purchase T-shirts and receive instructions for the following day, McCoy-McDonald said.
"Most importantly, we will break bread together for the first time in a year," she said. "It will be an evening of music and fellowship."
Descendants of the Rosewood Massacre have been holding on to their ancestors' legacies by fighting for the passing of Rosewood Claim Bill 591 in 1994 by the Florida Legislature that allocated $150,000 of state funds to each of the nine living survivors who had come forward, approximately $2,000 each to their descendants, and set up a program to allow Rosewood descendants to attend college in Florida tuition-free.
The 100th anniversary of the Rosewood Massacre has also included a week of activities held Jan. 8-14 that featured a series of speakers, workshops and events that focused on "commemorating the lives of the brave souls who have gone on before us. Remembering their lives are forever edged in our hearts," McCoy-McDonald said.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Rosewood descendants from around the state, beyond to meet in G'ville
