Racial Violence and Competing Memory in Taylor County Florida, 1922

• Other Authors: Martinez, Meghan H. (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: History
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-2689

This study engages historical memory and examines racial violence in Taylor County, Florida, in order to explore how memories concerning racial violence and southern identity are created and maintained. Special attention is paid to the way that white memory was commemorated in public spaces, while black memory was relegated to a more private sphere. Because black memory is underrepresented in archives and public spaces, black citizens of Taylor County have been, in large part, left out of the historical record. As a result, black memory is difficult to uncover unless it is specifically sought out. The construction and commemoration of memory in the south has often favored white memory over black memory. Lost Cause memorials and Confederate battle flags became symbols of southern identity; while black achievements and racial violence against the black community have gone unrecorded. Contestation over historical memory is often reflective of the struggle between black and white southerners to remember history in a way that most reflects their identity. In December of 1922 two black men, Charley Wright and Albert Young, were lynched by a white mob who sought revenge for Wright and Young's alleged involvement in the murder of Ruby Hendry, a young, white, school teacher. Perhaps because of the prominence of Hendry's family in Taylor County, the white community also acted out against innocent members of the black community by burning down a number of public spaces in predominantly black areas of town. Though these events garnered national attention at the time that they occurred, the memory of this violence has almost completely faded over time. Although commemoration of memory in Taylor County privileged white residents, it did not succeed in completely oppressing black memory or identity. Black citizens resisted this forgetting and crafted a lasting historical memory that communicated their own perspective. Competing narratives emerge when black memory is evaluated alongside white memory. However, both perspectives must be equally considered in order to construct a more complete picture of the past. === A Thesis submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. === Summer Semester, 2008. === July 3, 2008. === W. T. Cash, Maurice Halbwachs, Perry, Race, Collective Memory === Includes bibliographical references. === Maxine D. Jones, Professor Directing Thesis; James P. Jones, Committee Member; Jonathan Grant, Committee Member.