Rosewood is real. Google it.

“The first I knew of any trouble was when my cousin Robie and me was playing out in the yard. A carload of white men came down the street. There was so many of ’em in the car they was spilling out, and they was all carrying guns. When they saw us, the car slowed and they gave me and Robie mean looks as they passed.”

David and Ben were sitting with the Negro girl, Minnie Lee Langley, in the house where she now resided. They sat at the kitchen table to be near the warmth of an old wood stove. The house had no electricity; however, a kerosene lantern gave off sufficient light for Ben to take notes.

Minnie Lee lived with a woman whom she called Aunt Betsy. She wasn’t actually a relation, simply a kind-hearted woman who had taken in a scared little nine-year-old girl who had just lost her entire family. Aunt Betsy had said nothing when Minnie Lee brought home two white men. She welcomed them into her home, served them sweet tea, and then retired to the front room to read her Bible before going off to bed.

Minnie Lee had not wanted to be seen talking with the white men, so Ben had suggested interviewing her back at the hotel where they were staying, but she set them straight on that account. “No colored folks are allowed in that hotel unless it’s for working.”

She had been more concerned that members of her own community would see her conversing with the newspapermen than she was about white people seeing her.

“Why is that?” asked David.

“We was lucky to get away. The people up here took us in, but most folks are afraid them white men from Sumner and Cedar Key is gonna come and get us.”

“It’s been a long time. Do people really think those men will come here to finish the job?”

“That’s not it. They’ll only come if we start talkin’ about it. They don’t want nobody to know what they did.”

David only had to think back to hiding behind a cypress tree, knee deep in a snake-infested swamp, to know that Minnie Lee was right. Certain people did not want the unpleasant truth to come out. He asked her, “Why are you talking to us?”

“ ’Cause ya’all are gonna tell them people up North about Rosewood. I sure don’t want those men from Sumner and Cedar Key to come looking for me. But I’m willing to take my chances. I miss my mama and my papa, every day. I miss my cousin, Robie. Those men took everything I had, everyone I loved. No one else will talk to you, so I’m talkin’ to you.”

“We’re glad you are,” said Ben. “And you have our solemn promise that your story will be printed up North. If we’re lucky, maybe newspapers all over the country will print it. Then you won’t have to worry anymore. The story will be out and there will be nothing anyone can do about it.”

Minnie Lee sipped her tea and said nothing.

“Why don’t you continue where you left off,” said David. “You tell it in your own way and Ben will write down what you say.”

Minnie Lee’s dark eyes grew distant and her heart began to race as she thought back to her last days in Rosewood.

“As I was sayin’. Those white men drove by looking mean, and it was right after that my mama come running outta the house and told us to go inside. I was only nine and Robie was six, but we knew things was serious because of the look on Mama’s face.

“Mama worked as a maid for Missus Richards over in Cedar Key. And Papa worked at the pencil mill. When they was at work, I’d look after Robie. She was my cousin, but we were like sisters. Both her parents were dead and Robie had been living with us from way before I could remember.

“Mama and Papa had to go off to work, but before they left, Mama told us not to go outside the house. She didn’t tell us why. She didn’t have to. When Mama told us to do somethin’, we did it or else we’d get our fannies whomped. But I knew it had something to do with those men.

“I had a rag doll and Robie had one, too, and that was all we had to play with. After a little while, I started to get bored. I said we should go outside and play in the woods. At first Robie didn’t want to ’cause she was afraid of what Mama would do. But I told her Mama would never know. We’d be back long before she or Papa got home. It was a beautiful, sunny day. You gotta remember it was January, it was cool and pleasant. Sorta like it is now.

“I knew where there was a patch of blueberries. It was kinda early in the year for blueberries, but you never know. I took Robie by the hand and we cut through the woods, heading for the patch. After a few minutes, we heard someone screaming. And there was a whole lotta noise, a whole lotta voices.

“I wanted to see what was goin’ on. Still holding onto Robie’s hand, we crept up to a small clearing. We kept to the trees, but we had a clear view to what was happening. There was Sam Carter, surrounded by white men. Maybe twenty of ’em.

“Sam was all bloodied and his clothes were ripped and torn. He was on his knees begging for somethin’. We couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he had his hands together like he was praying. I could tell by his face that he was crying.

“Robie and I was scared to death. We wanted to get away from there real fast, but we was afraid to move. We was afraid we’d make noise and be found out. All we could do was hope they’d go away, so we could go home. I swore if the good Lord would just let me and Robie get back to our house, safe and sound, I’d never leave it again.

“Then one of the men put a rifle on Sam’s forehead and pulled the trigger. It was horrible. The back of his head exploded, and Sam keeled over. He didn’t move after that.

“Robie started to scream, but I got my hand over her mouth just in time. I hugged her to me until I was sure she would be quiet. She was shaking real bad, and I was too.

“One of the men put a rope around Sam’s neck and threw the other end over a high branch. Then they hauled him up like he was no more than a side of beef and tied off the end of the rope. They was all laughing and whooping it up like they just won a baseball game.

“They left Sam hanging there with blood and bits of his brains spilling out of the wound. I didn’t want to look, but I had to. As soon as we was sure they was gone, Robie and me ran all the way home.

“I didn’t want to tell Mama we went out, but Robie wouldn’t stop crying. So Mama knew something was up. I had to tell her the truth. I told her what we had seen. Mama surprised me. She didn’t whomp us for disobeying. Instead, she hugged us to her, and I could feel her warm tears as they fell onto my face.

“When Papa got home, he looked real concerned, not happy as he usually was. He took Mama into the bedroom so they could talk without us kids hearing what they said. But I went up to the door and listened. Papa was tellin’ Mama about Mingo Williams. I didn’t hear all of it, but it seems Mingo was on the side of the road collecting pinesap to take to the turpentine still when a carload of white men drove up and just shot him dead. Papa said there was no reason for it, no reason a’tall. He said all the white people of Levy County had gone plumb crazy and until things calmed down, none of us was leaving the house.

“Then Mama told Papa what me and Robie had seen and asked him not to question us about it because we was already shook up enough.

“When they came out of the bedroom, Papa sat down at the table with his shotgun and started cleaning it. Mama called us girls to the kitchen to help out with dinner. But I think that was just to keep us busy.”

Minnie Lee paused to take a sip of tea. Ben took out his clasp knife and sharpened his pencil. The shadows were deepening in the corners of the small room, so David reached over and gave the lantern a little more wick and the room brightened. Minnie Lee took another sip of tea and went on with her story.

“Usually, me and Robie slept in the front room, but that night we slept with Mama. Papa didn’t sleep a’tall. I heard him going from window to window all night long. In the morning, we didn’t have to be told not to go outside. Mama and Papa said they wasn’t going to work but was gonna stay close to the house. After breakfast, we went over and sat on our bed and kept quiet. Robie had a picture book she liked. She looked at that as I watched my worried parents try not to look worried for our sake. Mama kept busy in the kitchen. Papa sat at the table, holding his shotgun with a grim look on his face.

“At one point, Papa said he was going out to talk to some of the other men. He wanted to get news of what that posse was up to. They said they was looking for an escaped convict, but that surefire didn’t explain why they killed Mingo Williams and Sam Carter like they did.

“There was no word ’bout nothin’. Everyone was stayin’ close to their homes. We spent the day as best we could, for being cooped up. By sundown, we thought everything would be all right. No white men had come to Rosewood since the day before. Maybe they had caught the convict. I could see Papa was starting to relax as he stood his shotgun in the corner and told Mama to get dinner on the table. With Papa relaxed, so was the rest of us.

“We said grace and dug into the fried offal and collard greens Mama had been cooking all day. It was a Saturday night, and Mama told me and Robie that, when we was in church the next morning, we had to thank the Lord for sparing us from the trouble. She had just finished tellin’ us that when we heard cars comin’ down the street.

“Papa went to the window. I don’t know what he saw, but when he turned back to us, he had a bad look on his face. He shouted to Mama to shut off the lights and told us kids to get in the firewood closet and get down behind the wood, fast!

“Me and Robie did as we was told and sat in the dark waiting for something bad to happen. It seemed like a long time coming, but then we heard the boom of Papa’s shotgun. Then we heard rifle fire, and a bullet came through the door of the closet.

“There was more gunfire and then the second barrel of Papa’s gun went off. I was praying that he was giving those crackers what for. Suddenly, everything went quiet. I reached out to take Robie’s hand, but she wasn’t there. I whispered her name but got no answer. I felt around, using what little light that came in from the bullet hole to find her.

“She was lying on her back. I shook her and told her to stop playing, that she was scarin’ me. That’s when I felt her warm blood on my hands.

“I burst outta the closest and found the house on fire. Papa was over by the table, Mama was right next to him. They was both shot up real bad. They was both dead. Three dead crackers lay scattered about, so I knew Papa went down fighting. I went back to the closet to check up on Robie. With the door open and by the light of the fire, I could see that she, too, was dead. The bullet that had gone through the door had hit her square in the eye.”

At this point, Minnie Lee grew quiet and began to cry. Softly at first. Then the dam burst wide open and she was crying her heart out. David reached out to put a hand on her shoulder but drew back. He wasn’t sure she would want to be touched by a white man. Tears rolled down Ben’s cheek. They waited for Minnie Lee to work through her feelings. There was nothing they could say to alleviate her pain. Clichés and platitudes would not bring her family back.

The sobbing eventually gave way to sniffles. David handed Minnie Lee a napkin. “Here. Dry your eyes and blow your nose.”

She looked at David and said, “Thank you. I’m all right now. It’s just that I try to keep those thoughts outta my head or I’d go crazy.”

“We understand,” said Ben. “We can come back tomorrow, if you like.”

“No. I have to finish this tonight. I can’t have you comin’ back ’cause then people will know for sure that I’d been talkin’ to you about Rosewood. Anyway, ain’t that much more to tell.”

Ben nodded and turned to a clean page in his notebook, pencil at the ready.

“Go on, Minnie Lee. What happened next?” prompted David.

Before she had broken down and started crying, Minnie Lee had been speaking in a whisper. But now her voice, although not loud, was strong. It was as though she had come to terms with the horror and was not going to hide from it any longer.

“The front of the house was on fire. I knew I had to get out, but I was afraid those men would be outside waiting for me. I went to the back door and looked out. I didn’t see anyone. A ditch ran behind our house and I thought if I could just make it to that ditch, then I could go up the other side and get into the woods.

“Then part of the roof crashed to the floor, right close to me. That sent me running. I was halfway to the ditch when I tripped over something. In the light of the fires, I saw that it was the body of Lexie Gordon. Her face had been blown off by a shotgun. But I could tell it was her by her grey hair and the dress she wore. It was her favorite.

“I made it into the woods and went in as far as I could before I collapsed. I lay on the ground and cried until I had no tears left. The next thing I knew, it was daylight and the birds was in the trees, singing their morning songs. That’s what woke me up.

“I was cold and hungry. I was hoping the night before was just a bad dream, but I knew it wasn’t. I heard some thrashing off to my left and froze. I thought the men who had killed my people was comin’ after me.

“As the noise got closer, I could tell they was colored folks by the way they talked. There was five of ’em, two women and three children. They had done the same as me, run for the woods. They was happy to see me and I was glad to see them. Two of the children, both girls, was younger than me. The other one was just a baby who clung to his mother.

“We sat there for a while and swapped stories. The women were trying to decide if it would be safe to go back home. One woman wanted to wait. The other one, the one with the baby, said she didn’t know what to do. She was mostly crying. Finally, I told them that I was gonna sneak up to the town and see if anyone was around. If it was safe, I’d come back and get them.

“When I got to the ditch, I could hardly believe what I was seeing. The whole town … all the houses and the two churches … they was gone. All that was left was the still-smokin’ ruins. Lexie Gordon’s body was gone, too.

“Then I heard one of them caterpillar machines. I moved down along the ditch, keeping my head low, until I saw a group of white men standing around. They was watching a bulldozer dig a big hole. But what stopped me in my tracks was all the dead bodies lined up near the hole. It looked like those men done collected all our dead and now they was gonna bury ’em in one big grave.

“I went back to that place in the woods and found that more people had showed up while I was away. There was some men there, too. I told ’em all what I had seen. Some of the women started in to crying.

“We stayed there for three days and nights and not one of us had anything to eat except the baby, who suckled on his mama’s teat. For water, we would lick the morning dew off the leaves. All night long we shivered in the cold. During those long days, as we cried for our dead, we prayed to the Good Lord Almighty to deliver us from this nightmare.

“That’s what those white men done to us. And now I’m here to tell about it. I only wish others would speak out. But they’re afraid, and I reckon I don’t blame ’em.”

Ben looked up from his notebook and asked, “How did you get to Gainesville?”

“We wasn’t the only ones hiding out in the woods, there were lots of others. On the morning of the fourth day, when we could hardly stand the hunger no more, word spread that a train was picking up folks and getting them out of the county. The signal was two short blasts on the horn and one long. We didn’t know if it was true or not, but we prayed that it was. We had to believe there was some hope.

“It turned out it was the Bryce brothers. They was conductors or somethin’ for the railroad. They had heard what happened at Rosewood and when their train passed nearby, they’d slow down, sound the horn, and pick up people as they come running out of the woods. The train went through Gainesville, and it being the first town of any size we came to, most of us got off here.”

Ben closed his notebook. “That’s some story, Minnie Lee. And we thank you for having the courage to tell it to us.”

“That’s alright. You just make sure you tell those people up North what it’s like for colored folks in the South. Our lives don’t mean spit to white people. Oh, there’s good white people like the Wrights and John and William Bryce, but most of ’em just as soon lynch you as look at you.”

Ben looked over at David. “Anything else you think we need to know?”

David roused himself from deep, dark thoughts.

How could anyone treat other human beings in such a way?

“No, Ben, I guess not. I’ve heard enough. However, I would like to say to Minnie Lee that, on behalf of the whole white race, I apologize for what happened to you and your family. At the moment, I’m thoroughly ashamed of my race.”

Minnie Lee cautiously took David’s hand in hers. She had never touched a white man before. “I thank you, Mister Mahoney. It’s like I said, there are some good white people. Just like there are some bad colored people. It’s the way things is, is all.”

David reached into his pocket and pulled out sixty dollars and placed the bills on the table. “You’re a good-looking young woman, Minnie Lee Langley, and I think you should have a new dress and a new pair of shoes. Whatever is left over, you give to Aunt Betsy for the use of her kitchen tonight.”

Back at the hotel, Ben went over his notes. After comparing Minnie Lee’s testimony to what Brady had told them, he said, “Well, David, I think we have enough here for one hell of a story. I’ll have to flesh it out, of course, but that’s all. People will be outraged when they read what really happened at Rosewood. It’s just too bad we couldn’t get some pictures of the place, or what’s left of it. But it’s probably overgrown by now, anyway.”