<p>In 2020, Ron DeSantis signed a bill requiring the history of the 1920 Ocoee Massacre be taught in Florida schools. Legislation pending this year would potentially enable parents to block the lessons, along with teaching other important episodes of violence in the state's history. </p>
Scholarship fund established for descendants of Ocoee Massacre victims
Catherine Hawley reports
OCOEE, Fla. - It is a dark and often-overlooked chapter in Florida’s past; 100 years ago, the largest incident of voting day violence in U.S. history took place not far from Tampa Bay.
A new scholarship fund signed into law Wednesday will directly benefit the descendants of those victimized in the Ocoee Massacre.
The Ocoee Election Day riot happened in 1920, all because a Black man tried to exercise his legal right to vote. Homes and churches were torched, an unknown number of African Americans were killed, and almost all of the estimated 280 Black residents living in Ocoee were driven out of town.