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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 05 Approval of Proposed Text for the State Historic Marker Recognizing the Events of November 1920 4.4k, ocoee !tondo AGENDA ITEM COVER SHEET Meeting Date: October 15, 2019 Item # 5 Reviewed By: / Contact Name: Jack A. Butler, Director Department Director: Contact Number: 407-554-7063 City Manager: Subject: Approval of proposed text for the State historic marker recognizing the events of November 1920. Background Summary: In August, the city submitted an application for a State of Florida historic marker to officially recognize and memorialize the tragic election day-related events of November 1920, when the local African- American population was forcibly driven out, with multiple deaths occurring at the hands of an armed mob numbering more than 100 white citizens. The application included marker language developed in concert with the city's Human Relations Diversity Board (HRDB) and approved by the City Commission. The proposal was to use the same text on both sides of the marker. During the application review process, the coordinator of the State historic marker program, Mr. Michael Hart, contacted staff to recommend that the text be modified to provide different language on each side of the marker in order to provide additional details. He also encouraged the city to add language describing what happened in Ocoee since 1920. During the course of this discussion, it was determined that the best approach would be to use each side to address separate aspects of the events. Draft wording was subsequently developed by staff and reviewed with the HRDB at its October 3rd meeting. One side focuses on the events occurring on election day, November 2, 1920, which ends with the lynching of Julius Perry in Orlando. The other side describes the events related to the murder and eviction of the community's African-American population over the following days. This side also includes information regarding the present diversity of the city's population and steps taken by the city to deal with and move beyond its tragic past. Issue: Should the proposed text for a State historic marker related to the events of early-November 1920 be modified? Recommendation: Staff recommends that the proposed historic marker text be modified in accordance with the State's recommendations in the manner endorsed by the HRDB. Once approved or modified by the City Commission, staff should forward the final recommended text to the State for consideration by the historic marker review committee at its November meeting. Attachment: Proposed marker text with language endorsed by the HRDB. Financial Impact: Having different text on the two sides of the historic marker increases the cost by $220: $2,010 to $2,330. The cost of the marker is covered by the $15,000 allocation of approved budget for the Lakefront Park Improvement— Phase 2 project previously designated by the City Commission. Type of Item: (please mark with an"x") Public Hearing For Clerk's Dept Use: Ordinance First Reading x Consent Agenda Ordinance Second Reading Public Hearing Resolution Regular Agenda x Commission Approval Discussion&Direction Original Document/Contract Attached for Execution by City Clerk X Original Document/Contract Held by Department for Execution Reviewed by City Attorney N/A Reviewed by Finance Dept. N/A Reviewed by ( ) N/A Election Day Violence Rallies and parades conducted by the Klu Klux Klan and the United Confederate Veterans in the days before the November 2, 1920 election were designed to warn African-Americans to stay away from the polls.To actually block African-Americans from voting, officials arranged for the local notary public to be out of town so that there could be no legal affirmation of voters having paid poll taxes.Only African- Americans were challenged to prove they had paid the tax. One African-American, Mose Norman, did attempt to vote at the unincorporated Ocoee polling place. He was initially refused entry and left.When he later returned, he was beaten and driven away.An armed white citizens group sought to arrest Mr. Norman and went first to the home of Julius"July" Perry, a prominent African-American businessman. (Mr. Norman had already fled the community.)The Perry family resisted the group's attempt to enter the home.An ensuing gunfight left two whites dead and Mr. Perry gravely injured. He was subsequently taken to the Orange County Jail, where a white mob secured his release and lynched him near the home of Judge John Moses Cheney. Perry's body was buried in an unmarked grave at Orlando's Greenwood Cemetery. [1,221 characters] Ocoee Massacre and Exodus The Ocoee area of 1920 included two African-American settlements.A white mob reported to be over 100 persons entered the Northern Quarters settlement on the night of November 2, 1920. During a long house-to-house gun battle,they set fire to the homes, businesses,schools,churches, and a lodge owned by or serving African-Americans.Any person attempting to flee a burning building was shot.Those who remained died in the fire. Estimates ranged from 6 to well over 60 killed;the exact number is unknown. Residents of the Southern Quarters were told to abandon their property or face the same fate. Based on 1920 Census data, about 500 African-American residents were driven out.Their abandoned property was confiscated by local authorities, who subsequently divided it among white residents.The records related to property sales were lost.African-Americans did not reside in the area again until the 1980s,as Ocoee's population rapidly grew and diversified with the housing construction boom.As a means of acknowledging the past,the Ocoee City Commission formed the State's first human relations diversity advisory board in 2003 and, in 2018, issued a proclamation acknowledging the terrible events of November 1920. [1,227 characters] Maximum permitted characters, including spaces and punctuation, is 1,235 per side.The sign is 42 inches wide and 30 inches high,with a dark blue background and white raised letters.