Ocoee Race Riots - 1920

Ocoee Race Riots - 1920. [Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore Memorial Park]. , The Ocoee massacre was a violent race riot that broke out on November 2, 1920, the day of the quadrennial U.S. Presidential election in Ocoee, Florida, African-American-owned buildings and residences in northern Ocoee were burned to the ground, and as many as 50 or 60 African Americans were killed throughout the conflict. The African-Americans residing in Ocoee who were not direct victims of the race riot were later driven out by threats or force. Ocoee would then become an all-white town and remain as such until sixty-one years later in 1981. The riot is still considered the single bloodiest day in modern American political history. , The race riot was started as a white mob’s response to the persistence of Mose Norman, an African American, to vote on Election Day. Mose Norman was ordered and driven away when he first attempted to go to the polls. When he came back to the polls later he was driven away again by whites, who would later form a mob to search for him. The white mob then surrounded the home of Julius “July” Perry, a prosperous local African-American farmer and contractor, where it was believed Norman was taking refuge. After Perry drove away the white mob with gunshots, the mob called for reinforcements from Orlando and Orange County, who then laid waste to the African-American community in Ocoee and eventually killed Perry. Norman would escape, never to be found. Other African Americans would flee into the orange groves, swamps and neighboring towns, leaving behind their homes and possessions.