Faithful Black descendants hope reparations after Florida massacre will be a model
‘They left with nothing,’ said the leader of a Rosewood-related foundation. ‘Livestock was gone, houses burned to the ground, couldn’t go to church.’ Ebony Pickett speaks during the unity sand pouring ceremony during a virtual Rosewood Family Reunion event in July 2020. Video screengrab
December 23, 2020
(RNS) As each new year approaches, Ebony Pickett looks back to the dark history of the massacre that began in the little-known majority-Black enclave in Rosewood, Florida, on Jan. 1, 1923.
Pickett, descended from residents of Rosewood, feels the legacy of the massacre in personal ways. She was one of the first students to receive a Rosewood Family Scholarship from the state after Florida passed reparations legislation a quarter century ago.