HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-01-2020 Supporting Documents
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THE CITY OF OCOEE
PRESENTS
AN EDUCATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
TO HONOR
ALL VICTIMS AND DESCENDANTS OF
THE 1920 ELECTION DAY MASSACRE
IN
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THE EVENT WILL BE HELD
1-8 NOVEMBER 2020
THE LAKESHORE CENTER
125 N. LAKESHORE DR, OCOEE, FL 34761
Today, we have gathered to remember an event, which occurred because of
racial indifferences, differences, bigotry and misperceptions. The irony of
the situation is that each group believed that they were right in the approach
taken for their cause. Unfortunately, for us all, one-hundred years later, the
irate behavior of certain few individuals sank to an all-time low; the results
of which, have not yet been fully overcome by the descendants, citizens and
residents of the city. Therefore, this day in the history of Ocoee will forever
live in infamy.
But there is little to be gained by re-visiting the dismal days of the past and
the gory details of yesterday. Nor shall we dredge up the who, when, what and
why of the incident. The answers to those questions are more than apparent to
each of us, even today. Moreover, as sad as it may have been for all involved,
we simply cannot change our past. Therefore, those of us of todayÈcan only
respond in the words of the American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
ÑLet the dead past bury its dead.Ò However, let us here today be resolved to
lifeÈand live for the future.
In addition, as a special tribute to those who had to flee their homes, lands and
possessions to maintain the personal safety and freedom of their familiesÈ.
ÑThey knew not what perils lay ahead and still they persevered to their
unknown destinations, without any knowledge of what fate might await
their arrival. Their unyielding desire to be free and safe, propelled
their bodies beyond the physical limitation of the ordinary. Many to
the death, those surviving had no form of guarantee that they would
experience another sunrise or that the closing of each dayÔs events would
not become that which would inscribe their epitaph upon some void
table of stone, downcast forever. The only reassurance that any one of
these brave and courageous searchers could be certain of was, all that is
to come is unknown desolation and despair.Ò ...
AuthorÈUnknown.
Dedicated to the Memory and Recognition of the Victims and the Perpetrators
of this egregious tragedy. Both were the victims of bigotry, insensitivity, cultural
discourse, a lack of education and void of all elements of humility. The victims
of this human tragedy were attempting to exercise their Constitutional Rights
guaranteed under the Provisions of the Fifteenth Amendment: Passed by the
U.S. Congress on February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3, 1870.
Table
Of
ForewardPage 4-6
ProclamationPage 8
Lift Every Voice and Sing LyricsPage 9
Sunday, November 1st Page 10-11
Wednesday, November 4th Page 12-13
Friday, November 6thPage 14-20
Sunday, November 8thPage 22-25
CONTENTS
Commemorative Coin InformativePage 26-28
Speaker BiosPage 29-32
Formal ApologyPage 34-35
FOREWARD
The Human Relations Diversity Board,
with the City of Ocoee, Florida, during
st th
the week of November 1- 8, 2020,
will host an Educational Symposium
commemorating the memory of all
African Americans who lost their lives
and homesteads by attempting to cast
their votes in the 1920, Presidential
Election. The White mob violence
which ensued, resulted in a total
evacuation, annihilation and murder of an unknown number of the known
Two-Hundred Fifty Seven (257) Black residents of the township /community
of Ocoee, then; according to the Census Report for Precinct Number 10,
which listed all residents by: Head of Household, Race, Age, and Gender. The
Black population, within a twenty-four hours span of time was decreased to
that of one individual, Burly Jones, Ñthe informant.Ò There would be no Black
people living or working in Ocoee for the next sixty-eight years. Black people
would not begin to re-populate Ocoee, what was known as a Ñsundown town,Ò
until the late 80Ôs and early 1990Ôs.
The city was incorporated in 1923 and elected its first Mayor, Harold
Maguire. From that time forward until 1989 and fourteen new regimes of
city government, there was no cognizant effort put forth to investigate the
circumstances surrounding the violent deaths of the African Americans who
had been killed, or those whose lands had been taken and menially disposed
of, or sold to the highest bidders. In the late 1990Ôs a resident of the city whose
name was Lester Dabbs, a retired principal, former Commissioner and Mayor,
who wrote his Master Thesis on the 1920 Election Day Massacre, assisted
in the development of an organization made up of clergymen and business
men of the West Orange Community formed The West Orange Reconciliation
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
Task Force (WORTF), which began to apply both political and economic
4
pressure on the Ocoee City Council to revisit the treacherous acts of the past
and seek a peaceful and meaningful path towards the restoration of a friendly
relationship with the minorities of the City.
On 16 September 2003, the Ocoee City Council in a unanimous vote, passed
City Resolution Number 2003-21 creating the Human Relations Diversity
Board (HRDB). The HRDB was created as an Advisory Board to the City
Council with the Mission to: ÑPromote understanding, respect, goodwill, and
equality among all citizens and businesses of the City of Ocoee.Ò One of its
primary objectives as is outlined in the organizational bi-laws is: To educate
the Council and serve as a conduit for the interchange of information on all
matters related to cultural and ethnical diversity. The state of Florida has 67
Counties, which are geographically dispersed as follows: 412 municipalities,
283 Cities, 109 Towns, and 20 Villages. Ocoee is the only municipality in
Orange County Florida, which has an organized, functional, city sponsored
Human Relations Diversity Board, dedicated specifically to Cultural Diversity
and Racial Equality.
The present administration under the
tutelage, guidance, and leadership
of Mayor Rusty Johnson, has openly
embraced the concept of ÑChanging
the Corporate ImageÒ of the City
of Ocoee. On 17 April 2018 in its
regularly scheduled meeting of the
City Council, the City Commissioners
and the Mayor voted unanimously
to fund the travel expenses of those
individuals who would be making the
trip to the conference and opening
ceremonies. On 26 through 28
April, an HRDB delegation of four
(4) individuals of the City and West
Orange community, accompanied Mayor Johnson to Montgomery, Alabama to
attend the ÑGrand Opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice
and The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration.Ò During
the visit and attendance of the Montgomery event, our delegation grew into a
ÑTeam,Ò which has become totally oriented toward creating change in the City
of Ocoee as it relates to memorializing the African American victims of the
1920 Election Day Massacre.
While attending the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) event, we participated in as
5
many of the forums and educational panels as was possible. We were particularly
impressed with your appearance and comments during the opening ceremonies.
So impressed were we, that prior to our departure from Montgomery, our Mayor
drove us along the entire, ÑCivil Rights TrailÒ from Montgomery to Selma
and back. We stopped at the memorial dedicated to Mrs. Viola Liuzzo, the
Michigan housewife whose
life was taken on March 25,
1965 along the Historic Trail
while rendering support to
the Civil Rights Marchers.
We proceeded to Selma and
visited the Memorial Park on
the East side of the Edmund
Pettus Bridge, where we
encountered the memorial
busts of U. S. Congressman
John Lewis and other
members of the Civil Rights
pilgrimage. We actually
crossed over the bridge and
paid a visit to the Selma Interpretive Center. There we took in the entire
account of his infamous encounter with helmeted Alabama State Troopers,
the Tear Gas grenades that were indiscriminately fired into the crowds, Sheriff
Clark and his Cadre of Deputies, the attack dogs, and a mob of armed, angry
whites on 7 March, 1965, where he and forty-nine (49) others were hospitalized
from the brutal beatings that were inflicted upon
the members of marching group.
After making a full evaluation of the weekend of
activities during the Montgomery adventure, it
is my genuine belief that the trip to Selma was
a very key factor, which weighed heavily in our
MayorÔs decision to get completely involved in
our cityÔs effort to memorialize the fallen African
American victims of 2-3 November, 1920.
Fast forwarding from the formative days of the
West Orange Reconciliation Task Force, a span
of thirty-one (31) years have elapsed before the
memorialization journey could be halted in the
City of Ocoee. The long sought-after objective
as was to tell the story, honoring the memory of
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
the fallen victims to begin an effective healing
6
process of the deeply inflicted wounds through
bigotry, hatred, terror and violence. Today is yet
another milestone accomplished in the eternal quest
for equal justice and equality under the law. The
journey continues as we move forward attuned to the
constraints and requirements of House Bill (H.B.
1213) signed into law by Governor DeSantis on
June 23 2020; and became effective on July 1, 2020.
Excerpt: ÑAn act relating to educational instruction
of historical events; directing the Commissioner of
EducationÔs African American History Task Force
to determine ways in which the 1920 Ocoee Election
Day Riots will be included in required instruction on
African-American history; requiring the task force
to submit recommendations to the commissioner
and the State Board of Education by a specified
date; directing the Secretary of State to take certain
action regarding the inclusion of the history of the
1920 Ocoee Election Day Riots in museum exhibits;
directing the Secretary of Environmental Protection
to assess naming opportunities for state parks, or a
portion of a facility therein, in recognizing victims
of the 1920 Ocoee Election Day Riots;Ò
Today, the HRDB is proud to say that an incredibly
significant leg of the journey has been acquired. We have made a valiant effort to
tell their story; with the hope of honoring their memory; and in so doing, we ask
each of you here today, to allow the healing to begin. This has been a long and
arduous, uphill climb to say the least, could not have become a reality without
the support of so many independent organizations, independent agencies, and
individuals. I would be totally remiss by failing to acknowledge the unyielding
support of all the HRDB Team Members and all who have given so generously to
this especially important cause. It truly has taken an entire village to bring this
project to this point.
A hearty ÑThank YouÒ to all!
7
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
8
very oice
ift
EV
L
BY JAMES
WELDON
anding
JOHNSON
S
ÑLift Every Voice and SingÒ was publicly performed first as a poem. To be a part of a celebration of Abraham
LincolnÔs birthday by JohnsonÔs brother John. In 1919, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) dubbed it Ñthe Negro national anthemÒ for its power in voicing a cry for liberation and affirmation
for African-American people. The song is a prayer of thanksgiving for faithfulness and freedom, with imagery
evoking the biblical Exodus from slavery to the freedom of the Ñpromised land.Ò It is featured in 39 different
Christian hymnals, and is sung in churches across North America. In 1939, Augusta Savage received a commission
from the New York WorldÔs Fair and created a 16-foot plaster sculpture called Lift Every Voice and Sing. Savage
did not have funds to have it cast in bronze or to move and store it. Like other Fair temporary installations, the
sculpture was destroyed at the close of the fair.
Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our God,
True to our native land.
Why it is Important to Tell the Story? This was the first objective of the West
Orange Reconciliation Task Force.
In an effort to make this historic event one that resonates in the memory of
all who witness and participate interactively, the Planning Committee has
devoted an inordinate number of hours which turned into sessions that finally
brought forth the true meaning and understanding of what took place on that
dreadful evening of November 2nd and 3rd , as the threats of death, despair
and destruction became more imminent.
Imagine for a moment that your family is African American in that type of
environment with an increasing degree of hostility. Imagine the fear that would
have clouded your mind if you were sitting at home after dark and the sound of
gunshots began to ring out all-around your area. Your young children huddling
themselves under your arms for protection, and the only reassurance that you
can offer is - weÔre going to be okay, baby, ...the Lord will take care of us.
Well, that concept did not work in the paths of the violent and evil men that
were patrolling the roadways in and out of Ocoee on the night of 2 November
and all-day and night on 3rd. YouÔre afraid, nervous, and concerned for the
well-being of your wife and children. When suddenly, your house is being
riddled by bullets and the neighborÔs house is hit by a flaming Molotov Cocktail
and it erupts in violent flames as you hear them scream to the top of their lungs,
trying to escape the searing heat of the flames, which are rapidly engulfing their
home. Death is inevitable, because your home has now been surrounded by an
armed angry mob, which is going to shoot you if you try to run for safety, or
theyÔre equally satisfied to standby, and watch you and all of your family be
incinerated by the raging fire.
Today there are thousands of residents of Ocoee, Orange County, the state
of Florida and the rest of the country that doesnÔt have a clue about the
drudgery, deceit, violence and behavioral insecurity that grips the conscience of
the people from Ocoee, who have lived here all of their lives and the most that
they can relate to are the age-old rumor told to them by people who have never
sat down to verify one single fact of the truth. Thus, our substantial rationale to
educate the public by relating the facts as weÔve learned them.
st
November 1
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020 SUNDAY
10
st
November 1
Program Agenda
Tell the Ocoee Story
1:00 PM-1:30 PMIntegrated Slide Show: Digital Loop on Wide Screen TV in Lakeshore
Center and in Tent on Bill Breeze Park Lawn
1:30 PM-2:00 PMPre-Recorded Assorted Gospel Music: Orlando Choral Society
2:00 PM-2:10 PMCall the Session to Order William E. Maxwell, Chairman
2:10 PM-2:15 PMWelcome Mrs. Lori Hart, HRDB Member
2:15 PM-2:20 PMPrayer: Rev. Dorsey, HRDB Member
2:20 PM-2:30 PMInvitation to Visiting Descendants for Comments
2:30 PM-3:30 PMEducational Symposium Ï ÑThe Ocoee StoryÒ - A Historic
Presentation by: William E. Maxwell, Major, U. S. Army (Retired),
Dr. Kathleen Crown, and Nichole Dawkins
3:30 PM-3:45 PMQuestions and Answer Session: Audience
3:45 PM-3:50 PMClosing Remarks and detailing of the program for the rest of the week
3:50 PM-4:00 PMBenediction Rev. Dorsey
4:00 PMPick up To Go Boxes
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Why Is It Important to Honor Their Memory?
The historical implications portrayed in the violent acts committed in the Ocoee
Election Day Massacre of 1920 are extremely important. The significance may
not be apparent through a casual glance at the surface of an egregious act
such as that committed against the African American families who lived in
the Ocoee community at that time. But picture if you will, a community with
a population of 820 individuals, 563 Whites and 257 Blacks according to the
Census Bureau Report for Precinct Number 10.
According to existing records from the Tax AppraiserÔs Office, there were
twenty-five (25) Black landowners who lived in the ÑNorthern QuartersÒ of
the Ocoee community in 1920. According to many and varied written accounts
on the events that took place on the evening and night of 2 November; and,
then during the entire day of November 3rd, armed white mobs patrolled each
thoroughfare which led in and out of the Ocoee community for the entire
evening and throughout the course of the night.
Many of the residents fled taking with them, only the clothing that they were
wearing. For many others, unfortunately, this day was their very last day of
being alive on this earth. So, how do we bring forth their total worth as human
beings and not continue to ignore their prior existence? We may never learn the
real truth about what happened; but, we must not allow the fact that they lost
their lives, lands and their livelihood while trying to exercise a constitutionally
granted right, be silenced from the ages of all generations to come. Their
memory will be forever enshrined in the Historic Memorial Marker that will
be installed on 8 November 2020, commemorating the atrocities and terror
lynchings that took place in this city by an insensitive mob of bigots against a
defenseless, unarmed community of Black men, women and children. We the
Citizens of Ocoee Eternally Denounce Those Abhorrent Acts of Terror, and
Forever Declare: ÑNEVER AGAIN!!Ò
th
November 4
WEDNESDAY
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
12
th
November 4
Program Agenda
Honoring the Memory
5:00 PM-5:30 PMAssemble at The High Point Church: Pastor Keith Tower, Pastor Ross
Middleton & Ms. Nikka Warner. 476 Commerce Parkway, Ocoee, FL
34761
5:30 PM-6:00 PMCandle light Walk from the High Point Church to City Hall (1.8 mi)
Pastor Tower and Marchers.
5:15 PM-5:25 PMPrayer and Moment of Silence: Pastor Tower
5:30 PM-5:45 PMRecognition and Comments by Any Descendant Present
6:00 PM-6:15 PMCoordinated Communal Ringing of the Bells In Memory of the Victims
of the 1920, Election Day Massacre
6:20 PM-6:30 PMSummation and invitation for the rest of the week: Pastor Ross
Middleton
6:30 PM-6:40 PMBenediction and Song: We Shall Overcome: Rev. Dorsey
13
The art of healing is not one that is easily brought into focus for the
average person. Some would believe that it takes place as the result of
some magical process, which nothing could be farther from the truth.
Much of the healing cycle is deeply related to the assumed attitude of the
wounded entity. The human spirit is the strongest known phenomenon
to resist or affect change through behavioral modification. So, in order
to understand the change that has taken place in Ocoee, letÔs start from
the evening of 2 November 1920, when Samuel T. Salisbury, leader of
the initial raid on the home of July Perry.
Salisbury, reportedly was wounded in his right arm at PerryÔs on the
night of the massacre by a gunshot while struggling to get a gun away
from PerryÔs wife. Subsequently, he was not physically able to continue
in the escalating terrorist mob. He would remain a resident of the city
and become the CityÔs seventh mayor during the years of 1951-1954.
According to an account of the events recorded by his grandson as was
told by Salisbury, his wife went into labor giving birth to and delivering
their fourth child during the hours that the areaÔs African American
population was being terrorized and killed by outsider vigilantes and
mobsters.
SalisburyÔs daughter, Betty Hager would go on to become a member
of the West Orange Reconciliation Task Force (WORTF). She also
served as one of OcoeeÔs first women to serve in the position of a City
Commissioner on the City Council. Her son, and his grandson was a
member of the West Orange Reconciliation Task Force and served
jointly, during my first years of HRDB membership as a member of the
Human Relations Diversity Board.
The most common and consistent thread woven throughout the entire
plot of data collection of the facts and circumstances surrounding this
tragic chapter of our cityÔs history are that the African American citizens
of the township of Ocoee of 1920; and all subsequent years, were brutally
th
November 6
FRIDAY
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
14
slain, unjustly deprived of their lands, homesteads and livelihoods.
But to the discredit of all of the hundreds of researchers who have so
scholarly approached this undaunting task of accurately counting heads;
almost none have been able to unanimously agree on the accuracy of the
number of black men, women and children who were killed in the mass
shootings; burning of all of the black homes, schools, churches and a
lodge over the span of a night and a day.
The City of Ocoee was incorporated five (5) years after the Election
Day massacre. Today, a total of one-hundred (100) years have elapsed
without any finalization. Essentially, 100 years have gone by; a total of
fifteen (15) elected Mayors and elected City officials have served the
public and citizens of this West Orange County Community, and Ñnone
to date, have been able to put the story of Ocoee to rest,Ò in a positive
light. The stigma has continued to reign in a very languid and sordid
manner. Speaking as one who came to Ocoee, some seventy (70) years
after the massacre had occurred, I expected to find a clearly divided
and distinguishable line of demarcation as far as race relations were
concerned. But the truth of the matter truly was something completely
different than my expectations. To adequately frame this narrative,
one need to understand that there were many sociological, economical,
educational, cultural and demographic factors, which may escape the
imagination of the average reader as an unexplained plethora of higher
levels of terminology are introduced to add clarity to the story. Subtlety
is the first approach to beginning to understand just where Ocoee was in
the eighties and nineties.
There were no Black people in Ocoee until the late 1980Ôs with a
noticeable uptick in the re-population of the city in the early years of the
1990Ôs. The first attempt at any form of reconciliation and an expression
of empathy towards the growing, but yet very small minority population,
namely those individuals of African American heritage and ancestry
was implemented and displayed by the group called the West Orange
Reconciliation Task Force (WORTF). Formed in 1989, this group of
Ocoee residents and community leaders were dedicated to remembering
the massacre and its aftermath, no matter how painful the memories. They
contended that the event which they organized and hosted annually would
serve as a reminder of a very wicked era that should never recur. They
applied a significant degree of social, economic and political pressures
15
to the elected officials, which caused the enactment of City Resolution
2003-21, giving birth to the current day organization we call The Human
Relations Diversity Board (HRDB). The West Orange Reconciliation
Task Force (WORTF) was comprised of Ocoee and West Orange County
citizens of mixed racial and ethnic backgrounds who sought to promote
racial goodwill. That goodwill had suffered from a legacy of particularly
devastating events of racial violence that took place on Election Day,
1920.
The Era and Beginning of Healing and Change in Ocoee:
LESTER DABBS, A Fifty-Year resident, former Mayor and Commissioner
of Ocoee; retired principal; MasterÔs Degree Thesis: ÑCircumstances
and Events of Election Day, 1920Ò Lester Dabbs- It was he whom I
met during my first attendance of a Human Relations Diversity Board
(HRDB) meeting after being appointed as a member of the organization
in April of 2007, fourteen years ago. Lester was a dynamic and well-
educated man, far beyond those of his immediate surrounding neighbors
of the small town of Ocoee. As our relationship developed, we began
to bond intellectually, socially, politically and militarily. Socially, we
shared many frustrating hours opposing each otherÔs egotistical desire to
acquire the Ñwinning scoreÒ from the numerous rounds of golf we played
at the West Orange Country Club Golf Course. He had an uncanny aura
about his person that projected, or elevated him beyond the element
of commonality. His deeply contrived, easily recognizable southern
speech drawl, immediately conveyed that he was educated above that of
his peers and contemporaries. He was smarter than the average bear.
And, he didnÔt mind one knowing that fact, forthwith. His succinct and
acute pronunciation of each syllable, of each word had been obviously
cultivated to the point of clear conveyance of his intended message
to each recipient, individually and collectively. He was a concise and
deliberate communicator who conveyed an unyielding authoritarian air,
not to be easily defied or commonly challenged. Building on the above
described characteristics, leaves little doubt as to why and how he rose
through the ranks to achieve the many levels of leadership and success
that he realized during his lifetime.
SCOTT VANDERGRIFTÔS POSITION AS MAYOR: ÑLetÔs Keep Ocoee
Moving EconomicallyÈÒ
But no meaningful change was yet eminent. The momentum which was
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
16
begun in 1989, slowly moved forward in small group discussions with an
occasional gathering of select individuals deemed to be well-tempered
enough to engage in friendly debate on what had happened in the past;
but, more importantly, was the question of: What do we the citizens of
Ocoee do to bring about a lasting and recognizable form of reconciliation
of the racial inequalities that have existed in our cityÔs history for the
past seven decades without any possibility of change in the cityÔs official
position on race relations and cultural diversity. The most commonly
and open practice among elected city officials, was simply to not talk
about what happened in Ocoee on election day, November 1920. That
attitude was prevalent throughout the next twenty-five years; although,
the city had created an Advisory Board superficially slated to deal with
issues related to racial inequality and equal opportunity situations. But
the organization was, and still remains in an advisory role only, without
any ability to render an opinion or decision on any of its so-called roles
of advising the members of the City Council. So, in reality, nothing had
changed. By that time, a span of ninety-eight years had expired and the
city was within two year short of reaching the centennial mark of the
100th anniversary of the 1920, Election Day Massacre.
ENTER RUSTY JOHNSON: OcoeeÔs newly elected Mayor in 2015.
For the very first time, the city had a new leader who was willing to
ask the tough questions of those that came from the outside of our
city. The issue of the repressed discussions on the Ocoee Election Day
Massacre was inevitable. There had been many groups from other cities
and communities throughout the metropolitan Orlando area, who were
looking for an angle from which to lead an attack on the history of
OcoeeÔs neglected past. During his second term in the office of Mayor,
Rusty Johnson was confronted with the issue of what was he going to do,
to bring about change in OcoeeÔs Race Relations, based on the cityÔs
past. The total number of inquiries began to mount, and the media was
becoming more demanding of him for a policy statement on OcoeeÔs
history. On a daily basis, there were increased demands for a revisit of
the Ninety-eight year-old events of the 1920, Election Day attempts by
African Americans to cast their votes. They were publicly, and constantly
being made accusing the Mayor of being insensitive to the issue. Many of
the dissenting public began to use varied forms of social media to apply
verbal assault upon the Mayor to take some form of action to tell the
story of OcoeeÔs sordid history.
ACTIONS TAKEN BY MAYOR JOHNSON SINCE 2018 TO THE
17
PRESENT DATE TO AFFECT CHANGE:
TodayÔs City Administration has chosen to take the ÑMantle of
LeadershipÒ and tell the story; honor the memory of the fallen victims.
They believe that this action will heal the wounds of the years gone by;
and with this healing would come an enhancing aspect of the economic
development of the City. This administration has made greats strides
to move towards racial harmony by empowering its Human Relations/
Diversity Board, an advisory board to engage in the planning, conduct,
and execution of many and varied cultural and educational activities
such as: ÑFiesta de Colores,Ò an outreach event to the Hispanic-Latino
community to celebrate their heritage. The organization also created for
the City, an acknowledgment and celebration of Martin Luther KingÔs
Birthday and annual parade.
The Human Relations/Diversity Board is further engaged in an annual
outreach of education and cultural diversity by hosting each year, a
ÑBlack History Essay ContestÒ competition among fifth grade classes
of our eight (8) elementary schools in the City of Ocoee. This event
is participated in by the faculty and fifth grade students of each of the
elementary schools in the city. Students of every ethnicity and gender
compete in a written essay contest by writing on the lives of outstanding
and famous African Americans, with the winning contestants from each
school receiving first, second, and third prizes for their essay, plus an
overall essay contest winner.
The present administration under the tutelage, guidance, and leadership
of the newly elected Mayor, Rusty Johnson, has openly embraced the
concept of ÑChanging the Corporate ImageÒ of the City of Ocoee. On
17 April 2018 in its regularly scheduled meeting of the City Council,
the City Commissioners and the Mayor voted unanimously to fund the
travel expenses of those individuals who would be making the trip to
the conference and opening ceremonies. On 26 through 28 April, a
delegation of four (4) individuals of the City and West Orange community,
accompanied Mayor Johnson to Montgomery, Alabama to attend the
ÑGrand Opening of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and
The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration.Ò During
the visit and attendance of the Montgomery event, our delegation grew
into a ÑTeam,Ò which has become totally oriented toward creating change
in the City of Ocoee as it relates to memorializing the fallen African
American victims of the 1920 Election Day Massacre.
While attending the EJI event, we participated in as many of the forums
and educational panels as was possible. We were particularly impressed
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
with your appearance and comments during the opening ceremonies. So
impressed were we, that prior to our departure from Montgomery, our
Mayor drove us along the entire, ÑCivil Rights TrailÒ from Montgomery
18
to Selma and back. We stopped at the memorial dedicated to Mrs. Viola
Liuzzo, the Michigan housewife whose life was taken on March 25, 1965
along the Historic Trail while rendering support to the Civil Rights
Marchers. We proceeded to Selma and visited the Memorial Park on
the East side of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where we encountered the
memorial busts of U.S. Congressman John Lewis and other members
of the Civil Rights pilgrimage. We actually crossed over the bridge and
paid a visit to the Selma Interpretive Center. There we took in the
entire account of the infamous encounters with helmeted Alabama State
Troopers, the Tear Gas grenades that were indiscriminately fired into
the crowds, Sheriff Clark and his Cadre of Deputies, the attack dogs,
and a mob of armed, angry whites on 7 March, 1965, where fifty (50)
others were hospitalized from the brutal beatings that were inflicted
upon the Civil Rights group.
After making a full evaluation of the weekend of activities during the
Montgomery adventure, it is my genuine belief that the trip to Selma was
a very key factor, which weighed heavily in our MayorÔs decision to get
completely involved in our cityÔs effort to memorialize the fallen African
American victims of 2-3 November, 1920. To have sat in the audience
the night before, to have heard Congressman LewisÔ comments, and the
very next day; to be on the bridge in Selma, was an extremely moving
experience. This writer found a very strong correlation between the
efforts to secure voting rights in Selma, and that of reporting an incorrect
number of victims killed in Ocoee while attempting to vote. Our Mayor
was so moved by the combined effects of what he witnessed during the
trip, that he returned to Ocoee and became fully engaged in all aspects
of taking ownership and leadership of this very sensitive project. Suffice
it to say that heÔs fully on board in seeing this very worthwhile effort
brought to fruition.
Subsequently, we have organized under the auspices of the Human
Relations/Diversity Board, a Historic Memorial Marker Planning
Committee to define the problem through accurate and timely research
of the historical facts. They will also design and fabricate a historic
memorial marker, select and construct a site, install the marker, plan,
organize and conduct a memorial ceremony of a major proportion to
be held on 1 November, 2020. The proposed scope of this Memorial
Service will be County, State and hopefully, National in magnitude. We
intend to advertise this event as widely as the existing media will assist.
So, LET THE HEALING BEGIN!!!
19
th
November 6
Program Agenda
Healing the Wound
5:00 PM-5:30 PMPre-recorded Music, Video and Digital Slideshow
5:30 PM-5:40 PMOpening Remarks: Ocoee City Mayor Johnson
5:40 PM-6:00 PMComments: All Descendant(s) Invited to Speak
6:00 PM-6:45 PMThe Ocoee Story of: Then, Now and the Future Dr. Kathleen
Crown, Nichole Dawkins, and William E. Maxwell, Major,
United States Army (Retired)
6:45 PM-6:55 PMOpen Forum Questions and Answer Session: Panel Members
6:55 PM-7:00 PMRefreshment Break
7:00 PM-7:05 PMIntroduction of Alliance for Truth & Justice: William E.
Maxwell, Major, United States Army (Retired)
7:05 PM-7:10 PMIntroduction - The Alliance for Truth & Justice (ATJ) Presents
ÑTogether: Looking Back, Moving ForwardÒ - Dr. Kristin
Congdon, Ph. D. History Professor Emerita, University of
Central Florida. Founder of Alliance for Truth & Justice (ATJ)
7:10 PM-7:45 PMSkin on the Ropes: Dr. Cathleen Armstead, Ph. D. & Valada
Flewellyn, Poetess and ATJ Members
7:45 PM-7:55 PMRefreshment Break
7:55 PM-8:30 PMInter-Faith Service Approach to Healing the Ocoee Massacre
of 1920, Dr. Harry Coverston, Ph.D., Pastor & Interfaith
Colleagues
8:30 PM-8:45 PMQuestions and Answers with ATJ Staff Members
8:45 PM-8:50 PMClosing Remarks: Ocoee City Mayor Johnson
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
8:50 PM-8:55 PMBenediction & Song ÑWe Shall OvercomeÒ Rev. Dorsey
20
Memorial Marker Ceremony
Today, this day One-Hundred year ago, on election day in Ocoee 1920, African
Americans exercising their Constitutional Right to vote were brutalized, and
terrorized, while trying to participate in the National Election. In Ocoee,
mob violence erupted when Mose Norman, a black man, came to the polls
to cast his vote. Accounts have it that he was pistol whipped and his life was
threatened. Escaping the actions of the mob, he fled and was never again heard
of in the town. On the word of an informant, the mob proceeded to the home
of his comrade July Perry and proceeded to arrest him. An argument erupted
and, a weapon was discharged injuring the leader of the group of angry whites.
Included in the group were Samuel T. Salisbury who would become a mayor
and approximately ten (10) armed white men, who encircled the house and
opened fire on the patrons inside.
Two whites were known to have been killed at that scene. Perry escaped the
initial assault, but was later captured and hauled off to jail in Orlando. Reports
have it that the Jailor was over powered by an angry mob who took Perry out
from his jail cell, beat and dragged his almost lifeless body through the streets
and hanged him in the vicinity of what is now the entry way into the Orlando
Country Club. This was in plain view of Judge CheneyÔs house, the individual
who had declared them eligible to vote in the election. Further reports state
that his body, while hanging from a rope, was riddled with bullets.
During the night of November 2nd, 1920, a radio call went out to surrounding
communities that there had been an uprising among the blacks in Ocoee, that
trouble was expected, and every able and available man should arm himself
and get to Ocoee as soon as possible. The violence was greatly exacerbated by
the arrival of more armed angry white men. These men patrolled the streets
of the town for the rest of the night looking for black people to beat and kill.
During the next day, November 3rd, this same angry mob of men proceeded
to what has been described as the ÑNorth Quarters,Ò where mostly all of
the African Americans lived. The mob began to surround the homes of the
blacks, set fire to the 25 homes, 2 churches, 2 schools, and a Masonic Lodge.
Additionally, they shot any person who attempted to flee the wrath of the
angry mobsters. Many individuals were shot and killed as they attempted to
escape their burning home, but there were those who chose to remain inside
and perish with their frightened family members.
th
November 8
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
SUNDAY
22
th
November 8
Program Agenda
A Day of Remembrance
PROCESSIONALS: The Ceremony will begin with modified instrumental excerpts of the song,
ÑLight a Candle.Ò The Orlando Choral Society (OCS) Choir will be in the background (p) and as
the instrumental version of the song is faded to a muted stateÈThe Choir will vocally crescendo
to a Forte (F); then to a (FF) Fortississimo presentation of the song. They will then fade to a
(PP) and vocally segue into ÑLift Every Voice and Sing,Ò The Negro National AnthemÈ.(James
Weldon Johnson).
21;11!BN.2;41!QNIpu!Dbufsfe!Tvoebz!Csvodi!xjui!Bxbse!boe!Sfdphojujpot!
2;51!QN.2;56!QNBttfncmz
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Bjef!up!uif!Tfdsfubsz!pg!uif!Bsnz
3;11!QNQsftfoubujpo!pg!Uif!Obujpobm!Dpmpst;!TGD!Kpfm!Nvssbz-!ODPJD-!
Tqpotpsjoh!Voju;!V/!T/!Bsnz!Sfdsvjujoh!Dpnqboz-!3:32!Fbtu!Dpmpojbm!
Esjwf-!Psmboep-!GM!43914!
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Gjstu!Tfshfbou-!V/!T/!Bsnz!Sfdsvjujoh!Dpnqboz!2.911.VTB.BSNZ!
Uif!Dpmps!Hvbse!Nfncfst!bsf;
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!!!!!Tubgg!Tfshfbou!Sptcbi!Qpnqfz-!Effsgjfme!Cfbdi-!GM
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!!!!!Tubgg!Tfshfbou!Kpfm!Dbsp-!Gpsu!Mbvefsebmf-!GM
!!!!!Tubgg!Tfshfbou-!Lzmf!Tubsl-!Cbohps-!NF
3;21!QNUif!Obujpobm!Bouifn!Qfsgpsnfe!cz;!Tifssj!Hmbeofz
23
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E/-!Ejsfdups
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E/-!Ejsfdups
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Ipvtf*
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Jowjufe
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Dfsfnpoz
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7;11!QNSfnbslt!gspn!Eftdfoebout;!Boz!Pof!Qsftfou
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
24
7;41!QNNvtjdbm!Tfmfdujpo!cz;!Psmboep!Dipsbm!Tpdjfuz;!Es/!Kfggfsz!Sfeejoh-!Qi/!
E/-!Ejsfdups
7;41!QN.7;46!QNJouspevdujpo!pg!Lfz!Opuf!Tqfblfs;!Es/!Kfoojgfs!Qpsufs.Tnjui-!ISEC!
Nfncfs
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Bsnz
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E/-!Ejsfdups
8;41!QNDmptjoh!Sfnbslt!Djuz!pg!Pdpff;!Nbzps!Svtuz!Kpiotpo
8;56!QNCfofejdujpo!boe!Tpoh;!Xf!Tibmm!Pwfsdpnf!Sfw/!Epstfz-!ISEC!
Nfncfs
9;11!QNSfdfttjpobm!Nvtjd!cz;!Psmboep!Dipsbm!Tpdjfuz;!Es/!Kfggfsz!Sfeejoh-!
Qi/E/-!Ejsfdups
NOTE: In the interest of Public Safety and the Prevention of Spreading COVID-19:
This Event will be held in the Lakeshore Center - 125 Lakeshore Drive - Ocoee, Florida 34761
Additional Events may be held in the Alternate Locations of the Large 40Ô x 60Ô, white tents
located directly across the lawn of the Bill Breeze Park to accommodate possible overflow crowd.
Each tents will be equipped with total Virtual Capabilities to facilitate program execution by
select Program Participants. Tents will be erected on the afternoon of Friday, October 30th
by NelsonÔs Tent Company. Tents will remain in place until November 9th. Each tent will be
equipped with 25 Six-foot Tables (white), and 100 Chairs (white), Socially Distanced IAW existing
CDC Guidelines at the time of the Event. All Areas will be Sanitized, and All Patrons will be
required to wear appropriate Face Coverings as may be required at that time.
25
THE
COMMEMORATIVE
COIN
The Commemorative Coin, struck in antique gold, was designed to bolster its
durability as well as its functionality as a memento to call attention to the acts of
terror that were committed by an angry mob of Whites who had been summoned
to Ocoee 2 and 3 November, 1920 to quell an alleged uprising by Blacks who
lived in the area . The intent of this emblem is that of calling attention to the
slain victims of the Election Day Massacre of an ÑUnknown NumberÒ of African
American who wanted to exercise their constitutional right to vote. That year
not only included the upcoming presidential election, but it was an embodiment
of an epiphany that had yet to occur in AmericaÔs history: Women could finally
vote. The Coin is embossed with the phrase: ÑWhere Suppression is Remem-
beredÈ Determination Blossoms.Ò Attached to the Ballot Box are symbols that
reflect the essence of voting during the 1920 time frame. The hat, not only as
symbol of prosperity and protection from the elements, was worn mostly by men
of the era, both black and white. Pictures of July Perry showing him with the
same type of attire, was indicative of that era. Additionally, the citrus tree is
representative of the dominant economic engine of the time.
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
26
The coin also depicts the portrait of an African American family fleeing from the acts of
violence; taking cover in a nearby area swamp after escaping the terror and anger of an
armed White mob, resolved to kill them on sight. The family of four escaped with their
lives through flames and volleys of gun fire. May their souls rest in peace. Imagine, the
agony, the fear that must have permeated the minds of each individual who was fortunate
enough to survive the wrath of the reckless mobs whose sole purpose was that of killing
on sight, those individuals who wanted to VOTE. Here we are One-Hundred years lat-
er, faced with Voter suppression imposed upon many of the same people for the same
purpose as it was then. The only difference in the physical acts of violence and terror
inflicted then; is now achieved through partisan manipulation called gerrymandering or
congressional redistricting.
The Fifteenth Amendment, amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States
that guaranteed that the right to vote could not be denied based on Ñrace, color, or previ-
ous condition of servitude.Ò The amendment complemented and followed in the wake of
the passage of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments, which abolished slavery and
guaranteed citizenship, respectively, to African Americans. The passage of the Fifteenth
Amendment and its subsequent ratification (February 3, 1870) effectively enfranchised
African American men while denying the right to vote to women of all colors. Women
would not receive that right until the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920.
While the 15th Amendment barred voting rights discrimination on the basis of race, it
left the door open for states to determine the specific qualifications for suffrage. South-
ern state legislatures used such qualificationsÐincluding literacy tests, poll taxes and oth-
er discriminatory practicesÐto disenfranchise a majority of Black voters in the decades
following Reconstruction. As a result, White-dominated state legislatures consolidated
control and effectively reestablished the Black codes in the form of so-called Jim Crow
laws, a system of segregation that would remain in place for nearly a century.
In the 1950s and Ó60s, securing voting rights for African Americans in the South became
a central focus of the civil rights movement. While the sweeping Civil Rights Act of 1964
finally banned segregation in schools and other public places, it did little to remedy the
problem of discrimination in voting rights.
The brutal attacks by state and local law enforcement on hundreds of peaceful march-
ers led by Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights activists in Selma, Alabama in
March 1965 drew unprecedented attention to the movement for voting rights. Later that
year, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, which banned
literacy tests and other methods used to disenfranchise Black voters. In 1966, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections that poll taxes (which the
24th Amendment had eliminated for federal elections in 1964) were unconstitutional for
state and local elections as well.
The Voting Rights Act:
President Lyndon B. Johnson celebrates with Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy,
and Clarence Mitchell after signing the Voting Rights bill into law on August 6, 1965.
Before passage of the Voting Rights Act, an estimated 23 percent of eligible Black voters
27
were registered nationwide; by 1969 that number rose to 61 percent. By 1980, the
percentage of the adult Black population on Southern voter rolls surpassed that
in the rest of the country, the historian James C. Cobb wrote in 2015, adding that
by the mid-1980s there were more Black people in public office in the South than
in the rest of the nation combined. In 2012, turnout of Black voters exceeded that
of white voters for the first time in history, as 66.6 percent of eligible Black vot-
ers turned out to help reelect Barack Obama, the nationÔs first African American
president.
In 2013, the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act,
ruling 5-4 in Shelby v. Holder that it was unconstitutional to require states with
a history of voter discrimination to seek federal approval before changing their
election laws. In the wake of the CourtÔs decision, a number of states passed new
restrictions on voting, including limiting early voting and requiring voters to show
photo ID. Supporters argue such measures are designed to prevent voter fraud,
while critics say theyÐlike poll taxes and literacy tests before themÐdisproportion-
ately affect poor, elderly, Black and Latinx voters.
The bottom line associated with the idea of the ÑCommemorative Coin,Ò is that
everyone who is in attendance here today, November 8th, 2020 will take with them
a commemorative memorabilia, which was designed to always call oneÔs attention
to what it was that led to the acts of violence , which resulted in the deaths of
an indeterminable number of African Americans who lived in the community of
Ocoee, Florida in 1920. May the message of the coin become the embodiment
of the true spirit for which the Historic Memorial Marker was emplaced. May it
forever convey, that such egregious acts of inhumanness cannot and will not be
inflicted on any people again, regardless of their race, religion, color, creed, or
sexual orientation, NEVER AGAIN!!!
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
28
BIOS
29
BIOS
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
30
BIOS
31
BIOS
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
32
ARTIST HIGHLIGHT
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jt!jowpmwfe!jo!dipjs-!dsptt!dpvousz!boe!usbdl<!
svoojoh!uif!911!nfufs!boe!njmf!dpnqfujujpot/!
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cvu-!jo!beejujpo!up!bsu-!tif!jt!joufsftufe!jo!
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dpodfquvbmj{fe!cz!Njtt!Ofmtpo!bt!b!sftvmu!pg!
cfjoh!sfbe!uif!eftdsjqujpo!pg!uif!2:31!Fmfdujpo!
Ebz!Nbttbdsf!gspn!uif!Nfnpsjbm!Nbslfs!Ufyu!
Mbohvbhf/
33
An Official Letter of
Formal Apology
Purpose: To foster goodwill through the recognition and acknowledgment
of a bygone tragic event, which was brought on by a combination of socio-
economic, racial insensitivity, and political exploitation of a people. This
was one of the most egregious acts of cowardice and murderous behavior
ever engaged in by supposedly, civilized mankind in that century. There are
no words that can be uttered, nor are there any conceivable gestures that can
be fabricated, which can offer any form of justification for the treacherous
deeds committed by those evil men on the night and day of 2 and 3 November
1920, respectively.
Today, 8 November 2020, we the elected officials of the City of Ocoee have
chosen to invite each of you here to publicly acknowledge, and forever voice
our displeasure over the inhumanness of the acts of terror committed against
your ancestors, who lived in the African American community of Ocoee in
1920. Let us be clear and completely candid; those of us gathered here today
will forever bear testimony to the forthright efforts of the City of Ocoee, its
community and citizens to finally lay to rest, all of the unfounded rumors
about what took place on those days.
Research, expertly performed has unequivocally shown that an unknown
number of African Americans were brutally murdered and deprived of all
worldly possessions. There are no excuses to be rendered for such outlandish
behavior of those who perpetrated such heinous acts. But what is equally as
treacherous, evil and wrong is the fact that fifteen regimes of elected city
officials would allow those atrocities to go unquestioned for a period of
eighty-three years, and until today there has been no legal investigation of
the matter, thus no one has been held accountable, punished or ever brought
to justice. Black Lives Mattered as much, even then.
Our unified hopes are that you will search deep within the consciousness of
your hearts and souls to find the necessary humility to accept in good faith,
the sincere and genuine apology from the elected officials of this city for the
ungodly deeds of the fore-fathers of this City that were committed against all
of the African Americans of that day. To further implore each descendant,
A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2020
34
collectively and individually to look at the reality of the situation as it is now;
and more realistically, at who is now being held as emotional hostages for a
negative deed that no one who lives here today, can be held responsible for
any acts that were committed by those who lived and acted savagely towards
all of the members of the African American community, One-hundred Years
ago. But we the leadership of the city of Ocoee, accept total responsibility
for everything that was, or was not done, and vow to move the city ever
forward, always keeping in mind the memory of each and every soul who lost
their lives and livelihoods.
Therefore; we, the elected officials of the City of Ocoee, Florida, do hereby
and herewith, officially extend to each and every member of the community
of Ocoee, of 1920, and to each descendant both living today or deceased, our
deepest apology for each and every atrocity that was committed against those
individuals, and fervently assert that such inhumane and insensitive behavior
will never again be demonstrated by any elected official or employee of this
City, against any human being regardless of their origin, race, religion, or
sexual orientation.
Never Again!
Rusty Johnson, Mayor
Larry Brinson, Sr., Commissioner, District I
Rosemary Wilsen, Commissioner, District II
Richard Firstner, Commissioner, District III
George Oliver, III, Commissioner District IV
Robert D. Frank, City Manager
35
2020
They knew not what
perils lay ahead and still
they persevered to their
unknown destinations