Special Series: The Election Day Massacre. Part 1.

to vote. One hundred years ago in the center of Florida, just a few miles from where Disney World stands today, there was an exodus. Hundreds of black families piled their chilled and into wagons. They trudged all night along roads and railroad tracks and through sugarcane fields. They barely escapped with their lives. Dozens of their loved ones did not. They were lynched, shot, burned to death in the wreckage

of their own homes. Today, this is forgotten, largely missing from history books, handed down only as a secret memory between generations of the families who escaped. But in ninety that November nine, the town of Okoe, Florida, wasn't a secret. It made headlines around the world. There was a grand jury investigation, even a hearing before Congress, and Americans black and white, knew exactly why it had happened. They knew what it meant. This exodus was a warning Danny black

citizen who dared to try to vote. I'm Eugene S. Robinson and this is the election day massacre from Ossie media. In two thousand and twelve, Randolph Bracy became the first representative from a new state House district in central Florida. Less than one sixth of the members of the Florida House were black. I I was looking for office space after I won my election, and I had recently moved to Koe, and I decided to put my office in

oh Koe. Koe is just a dozen miles from Disney World, but it still has the feel of a small town. It's a pretty lake, splash park for the kids, but beloved ice cream stand, the perfect place to live and work. And I remember it was an African American woman, older woman, and she almost lost it when I thought I was

moving my office Koe. But she was from the age where she the era where she remembered that it was a sundown town where you couldn't be in Okoe unless you had some business and you had to be going before dark. Bracy, now, a Florida State Senator, was shocked, but many people who live in the area longer are not. Historian Marvin Dunn is Professor emeritus at Florida International University.

He grew up in central Florida. My father told us, told me and my brothers about picking oranges in in Okoe when they would leave to come back to the land, so driver of the white drive at Landridge until almost dark, they would walk out of Ocoe rather than be confident after dark. Cooee is a diverse community today, and it had a thriving black population long ago. But for half

a century of Coe had almost no black residents. But this was in the ninety late nineties, and eight told me, please, don't tell anyone now you're coming here, that we've invited you here, that we're showing you where the black communities used to be. Paul Ortiz is a professor of history at the University of Florida. Don't tell anyone because it could put your life in jeopardy. It could put us in jeopardy. There are good reasons why no black person

wants to live there for so many years. A Koe resident and community historian Pamela Grady, you can see that's what happened there. You can feel that energy there. It's still it's still alive and well. What happened in a Koe a century ago remains the worst incident of election day of violence in US history. What happened in a Koe was not an altercation. It was more than a lynching or shooting or riot. What happened in a Koe was a massacre. And what happened is all too relevant today.

Florida is still active involved in Phota suppression. I didn't even get why she is so scared for me, and then I kind of learned the history, and I think it's so appropriate to talk about it in this year election because it is still to this date of bloody It's day in American political history have an on a presidential election. One hundred years ago, African Americans in Florida

were preparing for a historic election. Soldiers had come home after serving their country in World War One, the local economy was booming, women had earned the right to vote the promise of America seemed closer than ever before, and then in a night of unspeakable violence, everything changed. There was no question who was in charge in central Florida a century ago. Often at the time, many of law enforcement and local politicians here were also members of the

Ku Klux Klan. Pamela Schwartz is the chief curator of the Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando, Florida. One prominent white citizen at the time estimated that about nine of law enforcement officers, judges, and lawyers and their Coe area were clan members. There's a new rise in the Ku Klux Klan um. There's a resurgence of white supremacy. Uh, there's an active movement for white supremacists to try to

disenfranchise black voters. In the days leading up to the election in November ninety the k k k was especially active. There are marches throughout the state of Florida, Jacksonville, Daytona, Orlando of Ku Klux Klan sending that same message of do you not get out to vote if you're black or else. In Orlando, around five hundred hooded men paraded behind three figures on horseback. They used megaphones to get

their message out. Paul Ortiz is, the author of Emancipation, betrayed the hidden history of black organizing and white violence in Florida, from reconstruction to the bloody election of ninety in Daytona the night before election that they marched through Mary mccloyd Bethune's campus, you know, and the municipal authority um controlling the electricity actually kind of electricity, you know, to Daytona industrial world school, so that the clan could

march through with their torches and terror tactics and and accurately scary. It's just all of this stuff is boiling and boiling, and the events of November two and third send it over the top. This was an event hundreds of years in the making, from the first enslavement here up through black holes and Jim Crow laws and the suppression of women, the suppression of black voters, the suppression in all these different ways leading up to something like

this event erupting. Five hundred years ago, Florida was under Spanish rule. It was a sanctuary if the slaves were able to escape the British colonies. But after Florida came unto the control of the United States. In eighteen nineteen, President Thomas Jefferson sent the American troops to help capture former slaves and returned them to their chains. Slavery ended with the Civil War, but segregation and ideas of white

supremacy remained strong. Centta Florida was especially attractive to former Confederates. Marvin Dunn is the author of a History of Florida through Black Eyes. Center Florida was a was a magnet for people who had lost the Civil War because keith A, Florida was untouched by the war. Uh and Center Florida the cattle. That said, the Confederate Army. So businessman in Santa Florida made money during the war while other parts of the South had being destimated by the war. By

nineteen twenty or this economy was booming. The citrus industry was exploding, so a lot of black people were attracted into some to Florida for that reason to work. The town of a Koe, with its lush orange groves and farms nestled along Stark Lake, was especially attractive a number of black people, black men in particular, had managed to get property orange groves on their own. There's a man by the name of Moses Norman. Now Moses Norman had lived in this community for some thirty years. He was

not just some you know, young guy. He was a well established individual, well known in town. He had his own car. He was known to be a labor broker. Most Norman at the time was driving around in a car that was worth about seventy five to a hund thousand dollars. Pamela Grady is the executive director of the July Perry Foundation. That's a Mercedes, that's a Jaguar, you know, that's what he was driving around. And at a time

when nobody even had cars. There was only maybe one or two other cars in the whole town of Akoe. And here's this black guy driving through the town this nice car. You know, they had to infuriate him. The foundation is named from most Norman's good friend, another prominent black Cystan of the Koe, Julius July Perry. Nothing really happened in Okoe without him. Florida State Senator Randolph Bracy. He was kind of like a broker or even white businessman who wanted to come in and do some farming

transactions of what have you. He ran the town July Perry and Most Norman were pillars of the Koe community history and Paul Artiz they were successful individuals. They're very hard workers, they were they're very good family men. Um

they were highly respected. And the reason I mentioned the term highly respected, and this is the most important element I think about Most Norman and July Perry and why why they represent such a threat to white supremacy, Because these two exceptionally respected men were involved in an exceptionally

threatening activity helping black citizens vote. In the wake at World War One, black Floridians had organized a remarkable statewide voter registration movement, and the movement really prested and built momentum as African American soldiers returned from from Europe. A lot of black pressions came back to the South and they had third in Europe and they were not going to accommodate themselves to the racism that was in there in that community. And Most Norman and Gelatter in particularly

were among those who came back with that attitude. The two veterans joined hundreds of other Floridians who were mobilizing to combat white supremacy. In nineteen twenty, there is a shoot black voter registration drive that's supported not only by the black community, but also by white Republicans, not all of them, most of them. This was at a time when most African Americans were members of Abraham Lincoln's Republican Party.

In many places in the South, blacks could not even join in the Democratic Party, and thanks to the Nineteenth Amendment, women would be voting for president for the first time in nineteen twenty. This is a whole new voting block and that includes black women. And what it's doing is

it's causing a lot of tension. People don't always accept change, and so with this you also see sort of a resurgence and an ongoing rise with white supremacy in the Ku Klux Klan clan members were not the only white supremacists trying to hold back the new wave of black voters. Once the white you know, white white elites and white media and white leaders realize this is happening, they use their op ed space, their their banner headlines. White women, it's up to you to save the republic. This is

the greatest crisis in our nation's history. And a typical op ed will say, uh, white ladies, do you want your Negro washer women to lord over you, to take control. Do you want that Negro custodian to marry your daughter? The threats heated up as the election approached. White supremacies in a crisis. They're much more honest and races today because they're very blunt about it. They're like, white supremacy

is our way of life as an American. Some white Republicans in Orlando, including a local judge named John Cheney,

helped July Perry and most Norman organized black voters. About a month before the Echoing massacre, they receive a letter from the Florida ku Klux Klan signed by the ku Klux Klan that basically says, stop or else, sir, while stopping in your beautiful little city this week, I was informed that you are in the habit of going out among the Negroes of Orlando and delivering lectures explaining to

them how to as their rights. The grand master of the Florida ku Klux Klan reminded them what happened when white people tried to help black voters during reconstruction. You will remember that these things forced the loyal citizens of the South to organize clans of determined men who pledge themselves to maintain white supremacy and to safeguard our women and children. We shall always enjoy white supremacy in this country,

and he who interferes must face the consequences. So there is a threat, there is and this is this is a primary starch. We have the original in our museum collection that that that states this. Just days before the Echoe massacre, there are marches throughout the state of Florida. If you ask a black person to register a vote Florida, you're asking them to take the risk. They're asking them to risk their lives. You're asking them to risk their livelihoods,

You're asking them to risk their physical safety. On the morning of November, two black citizens of a Koe, Florida made a heroic decision. They ignored the clan marches, the torches, the letters, and the threats. They prepared to exercise their most fundamental democratic right to vote. They knew it would be challenging, but they had no idea of the horrors that awaited them. Well on election day. From what we know, you know most Norman and July Perry are with African

Americans who are trying to vote. Historian Paul Ortisse, and what happens in the Koe is again similar to what happens in many parts of the state. Um people are standing in a line. We don't know how many people, and if they're black, you're not allowed to vote. Historian Marvin Dunn. This was a plan attempt to challenge the the denial of the right to vote, and coy in center more broadly armed white deputies declared themselves poll monitors,

poll workers challenged black voters. Names mysteriously disappeared from the voter rolls. Poll taxes, it was claimed, had not been paid and a coe anyone turned away from voting had to go to the local Justice of the peace to contest it, and he had conveniently gone fishing that day. Most Norman was among the people who tried to cast a ballot, and he um goes to the polls to vote, he has turned away. His name had been placed on the stricken list for a voting and he was never

re stored. They claimed that most Norman, a wealthy landowner deeply involved in voter registration efforts, had somehow failed to pay his own poll tax. There are conflicting accounts of what happened after most Norman was turned away at the polls. One of the biggest problems with this event is how few true primary source documents there are because why they weren't kept intentionally. It's it's intentional erasure of the history.

Black systems of a Koe and their descendants have spent decades trying to unearth what exactly happened on election Day nineteen twenty. Pamela Grady, I'm a resident of a Koe, and you know, nobody knows these people. You have forty thousand residents, you know, and most of them don't even know that the lands they're living on what happened to history? The rich history. Pamela Schwartz collected oral histories and documents for an exhibition at the Orange County Regional History Center.

There are hundreds and hundreds of versions. We actually took one hundred and nine and synthesize them into one mega account in the exhibit. So it's this huge, like twenty ft wall. It's like fourteen pages of text and it's all in line. You can see where the twists and the faults of memory and the lies in all of these different ways. The story has um changed over one hundred years. In one version of the story, most Norman returned to the pulse with his shotgun, sparking an altercation

with armed white deputies. In another more likely account, Norman took his case to Judge John Cheney and Orlando historian Paul artis again, he's trying to find ways to let you know, people in power know that this corruption is happening in a koe, you know. But the problem is, even he was able to contact similar Judge Chaney, there's really nothing Judge Chaney could do. Um If he's able to contact the super revisor of elections in Orange County,

that guy is not going to do anything. Jud Cheney is said to have advised Norman to go back to the polls in a koe and get the names of people preventing black citizens from voting. This is likely to file a complaint to lawsuit, but it was a very dangerous errand according to one version of events, Norman enlisted his good friend July Perry to help. The most important thing I think about most Norman Julip Perry is that black people trusted them, and both men felt irresponsibility because

of that trust to see things through. On election day, and that is a testament to their you know, their character and their courage. I mean, they could have stayed home. The safest thing for black people on election day was stay home. But neither man played it safe. Historian Marvin Dunn. The two men went back to the polls. Uh, they were harmed white men there who chased them away. There was some sort of a confrontation and this men, these

two men went to his home retreated there. Pastor Stephen Nunn is the founder of the July Perry Foundation and president of its board. He's July Perry's great grandson. His grandmother, July Perry's daughter, Carritha, was a teenager when Mois Norman was turned away at the polls. She told me that, Um, he wasn't allowed to vote, and a conflict took place, and in the process there was a fight that broke out.

That fight ended up at the Perry's front doorstep. She told me that ultimately, Uh, there was a rumor that spread around town that UM, the black residents of Okoe had gathered at July Perry's home to um discuss a revote to go back and demand their right to vote if you would, um, which she said was not true.

In the following hours that this white mob, actually they called themselves the posty had been deft as actually to go and find out about the disturbance of the polls, and they knew that July Parry and those Normen were

among the activists involved in voting. So the attention of the white people sort of focused on them, but they weren't really sure about it was involved in terms of the the rumor that blacks were armed at July Parry's home that circulated very quickly in the white community following

the confrontation at the polls. Now Anna's Burly Jones, black man who was a former slave who was owned ettle white man, and Burnie Jones, who was a quintesidential Uncle Tom told the white people that blacks were arming themselves and were ensconced in July Parry's home, and that's where

the mob went to Julia Parry's house. At some point later that night, after the polls closed, a white mob, an armed white mob, goes to the home of his friend and fellow labor broker, July Perry, and violence breaks out.

Bull shots are fired. She told me that at a certain point in time, Uh, some of the white residents men of the city of Okoe came to their home and basically made a demand for father to come outside, and they wanted to talk, and of course he refused and said no. And she did tell me that there was an attempt to force someone attempted to force their

way in, and there was some gunfire. There's a lot of people that are still trying to cover up the story and so because so for example, when I first came to Florida in the summer um, I was told by white middle class people, even scholars, Oh, Paul, why are you coming to Florida. We've had such progressive race relations here. We didn't have jim role like they had it. You know, you should go to Uh, We're not nearly as bad as Mississippi. Pall Uh, you know, you should

go to Georgia. What was this funny? Because I had already been I've already done field work in Mississippi. Are already done at field work in Georgia. Because when I talked to black Floridians, they told me, oh my gosh, who was telling you this nonsense? You know? Or it was just as bad as any other state in terms of race relations. So there was really no place where black people to find sanctuary from that. That kind of the kind of white violence. You know that that occurred

in Orange County and other places. So it's an organized attack. It's organized assault on neighborhoods, you know, on on a community. And the next episode of the election day massacre, she said that, um, the gunfire was so great that you could see the League tracers coming through all angles in

the house, just flying all over the place. I mean, basically, people are defending their homes as this white you know, a pair of military operation is tearing through their their their neighborhoods, and they begin to torch and burn and loot and pillage this entire community. There is no way we will ever factually probably know how many black people were killed that night. Records were intentionally not kept. One man told him I shot seventeen negroes. He shot seventeen himself,

and he was bragging about it. Basically, you had a choice. You can leave and get shot, or you can stay and burn. Uh. And they burned to death. We don't like to use the term ethnic cleansing unless we can use in Eastern Europe, right, but it happens here. This episode of flash Back, The Election Day Massacre, was written by Sean Braswell and voiced by me Eugene S. Robinson, was produced by Maeve mcgoran and your A Oh Diggi Zua. Chris Hoff engineered our show.