On January 1, 1923, a massacre was carried out in the small, predominantly black town of Rosewood in central Florida. The massacre was instigated by a rumor that a black man had sexually assaulted a white woman, Fanny Taylor, in her home in a nearby community. A group of white men, believing that this rapist was a recently escaped convict named Jesse Hunter who was hiding out in Rosewood, gathered to capture this man. Prior to this event a series of incidents had sparked racial tensions within Rosewood. During the previous winter of 1922, a white teacher from Perry had been murdered, and on New Year's Eve 1922, a Ku Klux Klan rally was held in Gainesville, located not far from Rosewood. In response to Taylor's accusations, white men began searching for Jesse Hunter, Aaron Carrier, and Sam Carter who were believed to be accomplices. Carrier was captured and jailed while Carter was lynched. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The white mob suspected that Aaron's cousin, Sylvester Carrier, a Rosewood resident, was harboring the fugitive, Jesse Hunter. By the early 1900s, racial unrest and violence were widespread throughout the United States. It was difficult to go any length of time without hearing about the lynching of a black citizen, a violent anti-black mob, or large riots killing blacks. In Rosewood, Florida, an incident of great caliber and commotion occurred during these moments of extreme racial segregation. These incidents in Rosewood became public knowledge as the entire black population chose to move out of the small town. These black citizens feared for their lives as many heinous and violent racist crimes were occurring against people of their own race. Lynching had become so common that many blacks moved out of fear that if they didn't, they would die. From 1917-1923 there was a massive reign of terror against African Americans, in which white mobs displayed copious amounts of violence and torture towards blacks (Rosewood Report, 1993, pg3). From Chicago to Tulsa, to Omaha, East St. Louis and many communities in between, and finally to Rosewood, white mobs would come and burn down black communities (Rosewood Report, 1993 pg3). During the second decade of the twentieth century, African Americans began leaving the South in record numbers to escape the oppressions of segregation. For many years, white Floridans had seriously discussed sending local blacks to a foreign country or to a western region of the United States. Many whites had such a low opinion of blacks that they were ready to treat them in the most inhumane manner whenever they felt threatened by the minority (Rosewood Report, 1993, pg5). Napoleon Broward, who was the governor, proposed that Congress purchase territory, both pardoned and home, and transport blacks to regions where they could live separate lives and govern themselves (Rosewood Report, 1993, pg4). Racial hostilities in the North were intensified by the immigration of black Southerners and the expansion of black neighborhoods into white residential areas (Rosewood Report, 1993, pg7). In 1919, the race riots that were sweeping the country Claude McKay paid homage to him by writing a poem entitled “If We Must Die”. Encouraged by his poetry, the NAACP, and other black leaders, blacks now appeared in public with rifles at their hips (Rosewood Report, 1993, pg8). In Southern communities, black residents increasingly carried guns to protect themselves from the numerous lynchings that were occurring. On January 4, 1923, a.