Highpoint Church in West Orlando will host its second 'Ocoee Remembers' event. The memorial service will take place on Sunday, Nov. 7, at the Lakeshore Center.
Honoring Victims
In a report with the Orange Observer, the event will honor the victims and descendants of the 1920 Election Day Massacre.
According to the church's Facebook page, the service will feature musical performances. The church will also have a Silent Walk.
As mentioned, community members will honor the lives lost as they work for the future of Ocoee.
The Observer report also said that P. Donnell Jones from Washington DC's Grace Covenant Church would serve as the keynote speaker. The church will read the names of the victims and ring the church bells in their honor.
American Dream's Price
The West Orange Times said that the American Dream came at a price on Tuesday, Nov. 2, 1920. According to the report, the Ocoee Massacre became the largest known incidence of voting day violence in the United States.
As narrated, on that day, members of the disenfranchised black community cast their votes. Their actions caused racial violence, which led to countless murders and the burning of residential houses.
In an article from Smithsonian Magazine, a Black labor broker Moses Norman wanted to vote in the presidential elections. White poll workers reportedly turned him away and asked him to pay a $1 poll tax.
Norman decided to consult Orlando judge John Cheney. The judge advised the laborer to stand up for his rights.
When Norman returned to the voting poll, his defiant act attracted the attention of the local Ku Klux Klan.
Fearing for his life, Norman went to his business partner, Julius Perry. He told the 50-year-old that he would leave town.
Later that night, a group of white men stormed the businessman's house. The men lynched and strung Perry up from a telephone post near Judge Cheney's house.
As reported, the armed men burned 22 homes and two churches. The report said that the number of Black residents killed in the attacks remains unknown.
Adding to School's Curriculum
In a report with WFTV, a task force submitted the plans to include the Election Day Massacre in the current school curriculum.
Tony Hill is the chair of the African American History Task Force. The report was submitted to the Florida Department of Education.
Hill told the news outlet that their proposal served as a model for the state. He said that they followed the statute of teaching K-12 African American history.
The task force chair added that they left it to the Department of Education to ensure that school districts implement the statute.
According to the report, the history of the Election Day Massacre mattered to the descendants of the victims.
Robert Hickey, a descendant of one of those Black residents, said that his grandparents once owned land.
Unfortunately, the area was burned down. The mob also drove out many of its residents.
Hickey told the news outlet that their tombstones meant that they survived. He added that their dreams of leaving that land to their descendants died with them.
He was glad that the world is now starting to know about their history and what their contributions might have been.
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