Fanny Taylor's False Claim in Rosewood Report and Film

Ida B. Wells begins her writing of Southern Horrors announcing the lynching of eight negroes throughout the South in a month. These eight men were accused of killing, raping, and assaulting white citizens. All of the men captured were shot, hanged, or burned alive without being convicted of the alleged crimes in a court. If a white male was accused of committing burglary, murder, or rape, he would be convicted in court of law (if proven guilty) and sentenced for how severe the crime was. The white male may be let out of prison early,

In Scottsboro, Alabama, March 9, 1931 nine African american boys, Olen Montgomery, Clarence Norris, Haywood Patterson, Ozie Powell, Willie Roberson, Charles Weems, Eugene Williams, Andy Wright, and Roy Wright were incriminated of rapeing two white women on the subway. As they were accused of raping Ruby Bates and Victoria Price they were put on trial. This trail was long and unfair.

On March 25, 1931, With the Great Depression gripping the nation after the stock-market crash of 1929, people jumped on to freight trains to travel from one city to another city in hope to search for work. A group of whites and a group of blacks who are later called the ‘Scottsboro boys’ got in a fight on a train. The Scottsboro boys were defending themselves and they kicked the white group off in Jackson County. Then, two women who were on the train were trying to avoid arrest therefore falsely accused the nine black youths (who range from the age of thirteen to nineteen years old) of raping them. The Scottsboro boys were then arrested with assault and rape charges added against all nine of them after the allegations were made by Victoria Price and Ruby Bates. It was a rousing allegation in the Jim-Crow South, where many whites were attempting to maintain power just 66 years after the end of the Civil War.

Whatever the woman said it was treated as evidence, despite the story of the Afro-American. Southern white claimed to be the “guardians of the honor of Southern white women” because they were in charge of taking the Afro-American to trial and lynching them when charged with “rape”. They did it in hoped of making it clear that whites were the dominant race and to draw fear towards the Afro-Americans so they wouldn’t get involved with their Southern white ladies. It had a very double standard feel because for Southern white men, they could have an affair with an Afro-American woman and everything would be okay. It wouldn't be viewed as rape. As well as a Southern white male could rape an African American female, and they wouldn’t get lynched. The white male would be set free with a slap on the wrist. This Antebellum era was very sexist and racist and Ida B. Wells knew that, and the Southern whites knew that she knew that so they were doing everything in their power to stop her from getting the word

On March 31, 1931 nine boys by the names of; Charles Weems, Clarence Norris, Ozie Powell, Olen Montgomery, Eugene Williams, Willie Roberson, Haywood Patterson, Andy Wright and youngest of them all, Roy Wright rode a train heading toward Alabama, they got into a fight with a group of white men that allegedly lead them to push the white men off of the train (An American Tragedy). The train stopped at a small town where an angry mob was waiting to find a group of troubled black men. As they got off the train, two young white women by the names of; Ruby Bates and Victoria Price claimed, “these boys raped us" (An American Tragedy). The public

The next tragic turn of events served as a platform for Ida B. Wells to lash out at the horrific act of lynching in the south in the late 1800's. In 1892 three of her friends were lynched. Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Henry Stewart. These three men were owners of People's Grocery Company, and their small grocery had taken away customers from competing white businesses. A group of angry white men thought they would eliminate the competition so they attacked People's grocery, but the owners fought back, shooting one of the

“From Chicago to Tulsa, to Omaha, East St. Louis, and many communities in between, and family to Rosewood, white mobs pursued what can only be described as a reign of terror against African Americans during the period from 1917 to 1923.” (Rosewood Report, 1995, Pg. 3) Lynching had become very common in the United States, although the number of lynching’s had declined from 64 in 1921 to 57 in 1922. Rosewood was known to some as basically a riot, or a war. I believe Rosewood was known to become a war because the African Americans in Rosewood didn’t want the whites to run them out of the only city they were raised in. So the African Americans refused to leave, and fought back. How would you react if someone tried to run you out of your home, or the city you were raised in? Would you leave? Or fight back? Some incidents that occurred in Rosewood report had to do with Fannie Coleman. She was a married woman with three children, who claimed she was raped and beat by a black male while no one was home. According to Fannie Taylor’s version of events, “A black male came on foot to my house that morning and knocked. When I opened the door the black male proceeded to assault me.” (Rosewood Report, 1995, Pg. 5) None of this was true. She was having a affair with a white man, who beat her, so she lied and made a scene to the community to cover her up. Little do she know how this petty lie will cause many African Americans to die.

The Rosewood Massacre was one of the most captivating events in history. It all began with racism and violence against African Americans in the united states during the post World War 1 era. African Americans were lynched for allegedly raping white women like for men in McClenny were on 08/05/20. Burned at the stake like Perry, a black man on 12/09/22. They also had their church, school, Masonic lodge, and meeting hall burned down. The Rosewood Massacre all started when a lady named Fannie Coleman wife of James Taylor clammed a black male knocked on her door and proceeded to assault her. In the movie Rosewood Fannie was having an affair with a white man and one day while her husband was at work her secret came over he ended up beating her and leaving bruises all over her. She knew she couldn’t tell her husband she was having an affair so when the man left she ran outside screaming and shouting. Neighbors who had heard her screaming ran to her rescue asking who done it. She had said it was a nigger. The sheriff and a bunch of white townsfolk band together to try to find this black man believe to be named Jessie hunter. They lynched innocent people, burned down houses, and tortured them. A man named Mr. Man, who was actually a fictional character, helped save the lives of children and women and then helped a man named John Bradley save other African Americans who were not

Fire in A Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America by Laura Wexler is about the lynching of four African- Americans: Roger Malcom, Dorothy Malcom, George Dorsey, and Mae Murray Dorsey. This occurred in Walton County on July 25, 1946 at the old Moore’s Ford Bridge. The lynching spurred a six month federal investigation in Walton and Oconee County, but eventually led to no convictions or arrest. The FBI had many prime suspects and prime witnesses, but the white community stuck together and the black community was too afraid to speak against their white counter parts. The reason for the lynching at Moore’s Ford Bridge was because the white community of Walton County wanted revenge for Barnette Hester’s stabbing, to keep interracial relationships separate, and to keep whites in control of the political power.

According to American history, prejudice is shown through the courtroom’s jury when making decisions to send the alleged African Americans to jail. On March 24, 1931, nine African American lives were jeopardized with the false accusations of rape that further scrutinizes the nation’s controversial look upon justice. Referring to Abigail Thernson and Henry Fetter when talking about The Scottsboro Trials it states, “Represented by unprepared out of date counsel who had no more than a half an hour consult

On August 14, over a month later, a newspaper reported that Mabel Hallam had been raped by George Richardson. She claimed that in the middle of the night while in her backyard, a black man came to her and allegedly raped her. There was no evidence, but George was convicted anyway. Sadly, this isn’t the first instance of racism in springfield.

Rosewood is a ghost town located in Levy County, Florida. In the early 1920s Rosewood was a developing town with churches, schools, mills and a growing population. The town was a majority black town, but that was not much of a problem until a white lady “cried wolf”. Fannie Taylor, wife of James Taylor who worked at a mill nearby, would have an affair with a white man. Fannie and her white lover got into a physical altercation that left Fannie with obvious bruises. To prevent from having to tell James about the affair she told her neighbors that a black man came and attacked her. As word spread throughout the town some people added to her story that Fannie was also raped by the black man. The thought of miscegenation is what angered the men and led to the Rosewood Massacre. During the first week of January, 1923 in Rosewood the angry white men formed a search group for the black man who “raped” Fannie. The search group murdered nearly every black man they saw and burned down a portion of Rosewood.

On July 25, 1946, two young black couples- Roger and Dorothy Malcom, George and Mae Murray Dorsey-were killed by a lynch mob at the Moore's Ford Bridge over the Appalachee River connecting Walton and Oconee Counties (Brooks, 1). The four victims were tied up and shot hundreds of times in broad daylight by a mob of unmasked men; murder weapons included rifles, shotguns, pistols, and a machine gun. "Shooting a black person was like shooting a deer," George Dorsey's nephew, George Washington Dorsey said (Suggs C1). It has been over fifty years and this case is still unsolved by police investigators. It is known that there were atleast a dozen men involved in these killings. Included in the four that were

The Scottsboro Trials of Alabama, started in 1931. Nine African American boys were accused of raping two girls on board a train near Scottsboro, Alabama.(A Tragedy of the American South) A fight broke out between white and black groups of youths. Victoria Price and Ruby Bates accused the boys of rape.(A Tragedy of the American South) Instead of the two girls getting charged with vagrancy and prostitution, they blamed the black boys of raping them..(A Tragedy of the American South) Rape was a politically explosive charge in the south.(A Tragedy of the American South) The case went to the US Supreme court in 1937, where Clarence Norris called the girls liars and was then struck by a bayonet.(A Tragedy of the American South) After going to court the boys spent two years between their first trials and second round. (Tragedy of the American South) One

In the year 1931, nine young black men were accused of raping two white women on a