| s414_b953_022594_tape001a | [Introductory Remarks about] the Florida Legislative Special Master for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), 1994 | sound | Legislative hearings
Reparation (Criminal justice)
Massacres
African Americans
Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (United States) | /fpc/memory/omeka_images/thumbnails/audio.jpg |
[Introductory Remarks about] the Florida Legislative Special Master for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), 1994
- Date
- 1994-02-25
- Description
- Introductory Remarks on House Bill 591, relating to the victims of the Rosewood Massacre, on February 25, 1994 at the state capitol in Tallahassee. Richard Hixson, the Special Master for the hearings, states that the purpose of these claim bill hearings are to gather evidence on whether or not Rosewood claimants should receive compensation for the physical, emotional, and financial damages ensued during the Rosewood Massacre in 1923. The attorneys Stephen Hanlon, Robin Urricio-Quinn, and Martha Burnett introduce themselves as legal representatives for the claimaints. James Peters, the Assistant Attorney General for Florida, introduces himself as the legal representative for the state.
Hixson explains that the legal representatives for both the claimants and the state will present their cases to the Special Masters Committee. Stephen Hanlon argues that the Rosewood survivors and their descendants should receive compensation from the state. Hanlon explains that the survivors and their descendants still face negative economic and psychological impacts from their experience. Hanlon also contends that local and government officials did not perform their duty to protect the citizens of Rosewood or to provide justice to victims in the immediate aftermath of the event. James Peters argues against providing compensation for Rosewood survivors and their descendants. Peters contends that the officials under scrutinity are dead and cannot defend themselves or provide their own experiences through witness testimony. The Introductory Remarks then conclude and the hearings move into the witness testimonies, starting with Minnie Lee Langley.
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![[Introductory Remarks about] the Florida Legislative Special Master for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), 1994](/fpc/memory/omeka_images/thumbnails/audio.jpg)
| s414_b953_030494_tape002b-003a | Arnett Doctor testimony before the Florida Legislative Special Master for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), 1994 | sound | Witnesses
Legislative hearings
Reparation (Criminal justice)
Massacres
African Americans
Interviews | /fpc/memory/omeka_images/thumbnails/audio.jpg |
Arnett Doctor testimony before the Florida Legislative Special Master for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), 1994
- Date
- 1994-03-04
- Description
- Testimony of Arnett Doctor. Doctor describes the experiences of his mother Philomena Doctor, the granddaughter of Sarah Carrier, who was 12 years old during the event. Arnett Doctor provides his family history, along with that of his relatives, the Carriers and the Goins. Doctor recalls that his mother Philomena Doctor was with Sarah Carrier at their employer Fannie Taylor's house on the morning that set off the violence in Rosewood. Doctor describes how both Sarah and Philomena worked in the Taylor house doing domestic chores, and that Philomena saw an unidentified white man leave the house moments before Taylor ran into the street claiming a black man had assaulted her. Arnett Doctor describes Sylvester Carrier. Doctor recounts that Sylvester Carrier did not die during the gun battle at the Carrier home, and lived in solitude until his death decades later. Doctor then describes the events that led to the massacre beginning with Fannie Taylor's accusations of abuse by a black man being sheltered in Rosewood. Doctor describes the attack on Aaron Carrier and the subsequent capture and lynching of Sam Carter. He describes how his mother and other family members went to Sylvester Carrrier's home seeking shelter from potential violence. He describes his mother's experience as a child in the Carrier home when it was attacked by a white mob and how the women and children escaped into the woods. He states that women and children escaped via train to Gainesville. Doctor mentions that some survivors believed that they troops at the Rosewood Depot helping women and children onto the train, and that these troops were stationed at Camp Blanding near Jacksonville at the time. Doctor says that he researched the history of the Rosewood community and wanted to get other surviving families involved in possible compensation from the state, but promised his mother that he would not do so until after her death. James Peters, the Assistant Attorney General of the state of Florida, then cross examines Arnett Doctor. Doctor describes the intergenerational psychological impact of the trauma his parent's and grandparent's generation experienced due to this event.
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| s414_b953_031194_tape001-002 | Ernest Parham testimony before the Florida Legislative Special Master for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), 1994 | sound | Witnesses
Legislative hearings
Reparation (Criminal justice)
Massacres
African Americans
Interviews | /fpc/memory/omeka_images/thumbnails/audio.jpg |
Ernest Parham testimony before the Florida Legislative Special Master for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), 1994
- Date
- 1994-03-11
- Description
- Testimony of Ernest Parham. Parham describes living with his parents in Sumner at the time of the massacre and working in the Cummer lumber mill company store. Parham said he heard reports from customers on New Year's Day in 1923 that Francis Taylor had been assaulted by someone. Parham then recalls an uptick in ammunition sales at the store he worked at not long after January 1st. Parham's states that the store manager soon told him to put the remaining ammunition away after men began stealing it from the store. Parham says that he closed the store in the early evening on January 4th and found Sherrif's Deputy Clarence William's car unattended outside. Parham states that he drove Deputy William's car around the area looking for him on the road between Sumner and Rosewood. Parham recalls Deputy Williams casually sitting on a car running board talking with someone. Parham recalls that he could hear noises from a large crowd and walked towardsthe noise. Parham describes how by the time he arrived, members of this mob had captured Rosewood resident Sam Carter. Parham describes how members of the mob tortured Sam Carter and asked him for the location of Fanny Taylor's attacker. Parham states that he tried to reason with the mob to stop torturing Carter. Parham then states that when Carter did not lead the mob and their scent dogs to the last known location of the attacker, one of the mob members shot and killed Carter. Parham confirms that Deputy Williams never approached the mob during this lynching. Parham also states that the coroner's inquest of the death of Sam Carter, which occurred less than 24 hours after the murder, featured no witnesses to the crime. Parham mentions that he was recently interviewed by the Florida Department Law Enforcement in relation to the murder of Sam Carter. Parham recalls how Deputy Williams stayed at his parent's hotel, the only one in Sumner, during the massacre. Parham recalls that Deputy Williams sat in the lobby of the hotel and ackowledged the violence occuring in Rosewood, but did not leave to intervene. Parham describes how "Cephus" Studstill, one of the mob members injured in the Carrier house attack, came into the hotel late that same evening with a gunshot wound. Parham describes how later during the week of the massacre, he and several other armed men confronted the mob along the main road heading from Rosewood to Sumner. Fearing that the mob had plans to attack the black community members of Sumner, Parham and the other men threatened violence to any mob members who entered Sumner. Parham spoke about his stepfather's role after the massacre of burying the bodies of the people killed at Rosewood. Parham asserts that he was not a member of the Rosewood mob, and that after the killing of Sam Carter, much of the Sumner community separated themselves from association with the mob. Parham contends that towards the end of the events at Rosewood, the mob was comprised mainly of men from outside of Levy County. Parham is crossexamined by James Peters, the Assistant Attorney General for the state of Florida.
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| s414_b953_022594_tape003b-004 | Expert witness testimony of Carolyn Tucker before the Florida Legislative Special Master for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), 1994 | sound | Evidence, Expert
Legislative hearings
Reparation (Criminal justice)
Massacres
African Americans
Interviews
Post-traumatic stress disorder | /fpc/memory/omeka_images/thumbnails/audio.jpg |
Expert witness testimony of Carolyn Tucker before the Florida Legislative Special Master for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), 1994
- Date
- 1994-02-25
- Description
- Expert witness and psychologist Dr. Carolyn Tucker speaks on the existence of post-traumatic stress disorder among survivors of Rosewood and some of their children. Dr. Tucker explains that she interviewed all of the individuals who testified in the hearings and additional family members of the witnesses prior to the hearings. Dr. Tucker contends that the PTSD that survivors experienced as a result of the Rosewood Massacre caused extensive physical, mental, and socioeconomic damages to the survivors and their children. James Peters, Assistant Attorney General for the state of Florida, cross examines Dr. Tucker, asking her to explain the basics of PTSD, her use of the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM-3), and her reasoning behind a tentative diagnosis of PTSD among the survivors of Rosewood and some of their family members.
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| s38_b121_040494_tape005b-006 | Florida House floor debate for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), 1994 | sound | Legislative hearings
Reparation (Criminal justice)
Massacres
African Americans | /fpc/memory/omeka_images/thumbnails/audio.jpg |
Florida House floor debate for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), 1994
- Date
- 1994-04-04
- Description
- House Bill 591 is presented to the Florida House of Representatives. Four amendments are debated. Amendment 1 and Amendment 2 are adopted. Amendment 3, known as the Thomas Amendment, and Amendment 4, known as the Albright Amendment, are not adopted. House Bill 591 is passed, as amended.
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| s414_b953_030494_tape001b-002a | Florida Legislative Special Master on Claims hearings for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), [Historians' Interview and Cross], 1994 | sound | Legislative hearings
Reparation (Criminal justice)
Massacres
African Americans | /fpc/memory/omeka_images/thumbnails/audio.jpg |
Florida Legislative Special Master on Claims hearings for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), [Historians' Interview and Cross], 1994
- Date
- Description
- Testimony of Maxine Jones, Larry Rivers, Tom Dye, and William Rogers of Special Master-appointed historical investigatory team. Special Master Hixson questions Maxine Jones on how the team was put together to investigate the history of the Rosewood massacre. Maxine Jones describes how the team, made up of academics from Florida State University, the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, and the University of Florida, condcuted their historical study. Jones describes the research process and the primary sources used in the study. Jones also describes obstacles the group encountered, such as a lack of archaelogical access to the Rosewood site. The historians also describe the lack of government records from the specific time period of the Rosewood massacre and their reliance on both interviews with survivors of the massacre, interviews with their descendants, and newspaper accounts from the period. The historians make comparisons to other lynchings that occurred in Florida during this time period including those that occurred in Marianna, Perry, and Occoee, Florida. James Peters, the Assistant Attorney General for the State of Florida, crossexamines all of the investigatory team members. David Colburn, another member of the historical investigatory team, was absent for this hearing.
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| s414_b953_031194_tape003 | Jason McElveen interview with Cedar Key Historical Society heard by Florida Legislative Special Master for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), circa 1980 | sound | Witnesses
Legislative hearings
Reparation (Criminal justice)
Massacres
African Americans
Interviews | /fpc/memory/omeka_images/thumbnails/audio.jpg |
Jason McElveen interview with Cedar Key Historical Society heard by Florida Legislative Special Master for House Bill 591 (Rosewood Bill), circa 1980
- Date
- 1980 (circa)
- Description
- James McElveen was an armed member of the mob in the 1923 Rosewood massacre. McElveen describes what he saw and heard during the week of the massacre. McElveen says that he was a resident of Sumner at the time. An unknown woman, also a former resident of Sumner, describes the events that she saw and heard during the week of the massacre. She also recalls that the man who shot Sam Carter was from Chiefland. The witness then describes the violent confrontation that occured at the Carrier home. The witness further describes the murder of Lexie Gordon, a Rosewood resident who lived several houses down from the Carrier home that was under seige. She then explains that the exact geographic location of Rosewood. This unknown woman also describes the location of the Rosewood Baptist Church that existed during the massacre and its juxtaposition to one of the main graveyards used by black members of the Rosewood community prior to the massacre.
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