One drink in and we head straight into one of Florida’s hardest truths: how a single accusation on New Year’s Day 1923 ignited a mob, leveled a thriving Black community, and left families hiding in winter swamps while their homes burned. We trace the Rosewood Massacre through names and places that deserve to be remembered—Fanny Taylor’s lie in Sumner, the murder of blacksmith Sam Carter, and the Carrier family’s stand inside a house ringed by gunmen—so you can see the chain of choices that turned fear into atrocity.

We walk through what made Rosewood special before the fires: skilled labor, gardens, two‑story homes rare for the region, a Masonic Lodge, churches, and a post office anchoring daily life. That prosperity mattered when rumors hardened into a hunt for a convenient scapegoat, the supposed escapee “Jesse Hunter,” while those closest to the truth stayed silent from fear. From there, the story becomes a map of survival: the siege at the Carrier home, the killing of Sarah and Sylvester, and the rescue of women and children by two Jewish train operators who risked their livelihoods to get them out. The details are raw because they should be—execution at gunpoint, families forced into the swamp’s cold, and a town’s memory nearly erased.

Decades of quiet finally broke in the 1980s when reporting connected demographic shifts to buried violence, leading to a rare state reparations package that fell far short of justice but set an important precedent. We talk about why this history still hits today, how public memory can be kept alive with markers near Cedar Key, and what meaningful education and commemoration look like. Along the way, there are human moments—Valentine pinks, a Harvey Wallbanger hack, and a Kentucky detour—that make the hard history bearable without blurring its edges.

Press play to learn the names, follow the route to the memorial, and keep the story moving forward. If this episode resonates, share it with a friend, leave a review, and subscribe—then tell us what part of Rosewood’s story you think every school should teach.

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!!!

Ready to explore more shocking true crime cases with us? Subscribe to Drink About Something for new episodes every Friday, and visit drinkaboutsomething.site with links to see all our content, including visual evidence from the cases we cover.

AS ALWAYS D-A-S