Like Judgment Day

I read this book when I was a Sophomore in high school, years after seeing the movie, it is a very good read! Very heartbreaking, but the world now is not that far off either.

This book was recommended by an African-American friend of mine. It is an excellent, excellent book. Shame on the bigots in our country.

You will amazed at how an incident at ugly as Rosewood could be dismissed by those involved. No one - not the survivors, not the attackers - wanted to discuss what happened.... until one of their own started working to put the pieces together.D'Orso does a great job of telling all sides of the story. You'll come to admire the families who maintained their dignity even after being run off from their homes, and you'll wonder why it took so long for the story to be told. This is a story of an ugly chapter in the history of race relations in this country. It is an excellent book that can make you both sad and angry at the same time.

I found this book very, very moving; and as an African American woman, it took me on an emotional roller-coaster. I thought the author did a great job of filling out many of the people in the book, that have long since died. I didn't just want a recitation of the facts or a quick history lesson. I think this event deserved more than that, in its re-telling. I wanted to see, feel, hear and get a real glimpse of the people portrayed in the book, and D'Orso accomplished that "in spades". Well done.

A sad but true story about massacre and cover-up, unfortunately close to home, is told in Michael D'Orso's Like Judgment Day. D'Orso, a journalist, tells the story of Rosewood, Florida, a small, black, paper mill town that was basically wiped off the map when white vigilantes believed that a black man from Rosewood had raped a white woman. D'Orso makes clear that, at the time Rosewood was occurring, it was national news, appearing in the New York Times and elsewhere, yet Florida law enforcement personnel simply stood by and allowed the carnage to continue. D'Orso basically tells two stories: First, the massacre itself, as recounted in both contemporary sources and in the memories of octogenarian and nonagenarian witnesses in the 1980s. Second, he tells of successful efforts to bring a claims bill through the Florida legislature to compensate, however meagerly, the survivors and their descendants. This is not a portion of our past for which we should have any pride; however, the story must be told so that, if at all possible, this history does not repeat itself.

I found this book to be extraordinarily well researched and compelling. D'Orso's journalism background came through in his skillful account and analysis of the historical events of Rosewood, Florida in 1923. He carefully separates fact from and myth and weaves a narrative full of drama, suspense, and inspiration. A must read.