Hey it's your host Shannon Ballard a reminder for you that if you enjoy Southern Mysteries

you can hear more when you become a member on Patreon patrons here bonus

content called Southern Mystery Shorts each month.

Head to Patreon.com slash Southern Mysteries to join today. Rosewood was once a thriving black community in rural Levy County, Florida.

Throughout the late 19th and early 20th century, the rate of black-owned businesses and homes

was higher in this community than in a majority of communities in the country.

There was such promise and hope for the future of Rosewood until January

1923. When one woman made an accusation that led to the injury and murder of dozens of innocent people in Rosewood

and led the rest of the community to flee. Forced to abandon the homes and businesses they work so hard to build as angry white

mobs moved through the community and set it on fire.

All that remains of the once thriving community today is a few old buildings and one home.

Welcome to Southern Mysteries, exploring the history and mysteries of the American South.

I'm your host, Shannon Ballard, and this is the story of the Rosewood Massacre.

In 1819, the Florida Purchase Treaty was signed by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. That agreement saw Spain hand over control of

their province of old Florida to the United States. The US began a formal

occupation of the Florida Territory in 1822 governed by the military hero of the

War of 1812, General Andrew Jackson.

By 1845, Florida was admitted to the Union as a slave state.

Before 1821, Florida was a unique part of the country,

with areas like St. Augustine standing out as one of the most integrated towns in the country.

It operated as a rather race-neutral area.

But with admission to the Union as a slave state, Florida transformed into the plantation model of the rest of the South, driven as a chattel slavery state with strong racial divides.

...