The affluent Black town of Rosewood, FL, was destroyed when Blacks were attacked by mobs of whites beginning on this date in 1923. A nearly three-year build up of violence led to the massacre in which at least eight (some witnesses estimated 40 to 80) persons were killed.
Rosewood was a quiet, primarily black, self-sufficient town. Spurred by unsupported accusations that a white woman had been beaten and raped by a black drifter, white men from nearby towns lynched a Rosewood resident. When black citizens defended themselves against further attack, several hundred whites combed the countryside hunting for black people, and burned almost every structure in Rosewood. Survivors hid for several days in nearby swamps and were evacuated by train and car to larger towns. Although state and local authorities were aware of the violence, they made no arrests for the activities in Rosewood. The town was abandoned by residents during the attacks and none returned.
Sixty years after the rioting, the story of Rosewood was revived in major media when several journalists covered it in the early 1980s. Survivors and their descendants organized to sue the state for having failed to protect them. In 1993, the state legislature commissioned a report on the events. As a result of the findings, Florida became the first state to compensate survivors and their descendants for damages incurred because of racial violence.
As of Wednesday morning, snow is on the ground in 49 out of the 50 U.S. states.
The lone state without a single snowflake? Florida.
Even Hawaii has snow covering its mountaintops, with about 7 inches of snow atop Mauna Kea, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"As of Jan. 11, 69.4 percent of the contiguous United States is covered by snow," NOAA posted on its website. "This is more than double the snow cover from last month."
Florida may be flake-free, but elsewhere, it's a much different story.
The northeastern U.S. is expected to get a big visit from a Nor'easter, part of the same storm system that left icy roads and bitter cold across the Southeast, including Atlanta, which has caused thousands of flight cancellations in the last week.
Up to 15 inches of snow is forecast for some areas of New York, and officials have begun getting emergency plans in place.
In Chicago, the Windy City has become the "Snowy City."
Officials sent 174 trucks to clear the streets of Chicago as the snow continued to fall.
Traffic has been a nightmare in several spots, and the snow has also caused problems at Chicago's airports.
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