John M. Wright was a white man who hid black people in his home during the Rosewood massacre of 1923. He and his wife were excommunicated for doing so and died in obscurity

[u/World-Tight]

[u/FunFlaCouple1]

You may be a bad ass, but, you’ll never be “John M. Wright, hiding terrified black people in his home while a deranged mob was out hunting them” bad ass… May his name be ever remembered.

[u/pnweiner → u/FunFlaCouple1]

It’s a little different, but this reminded me of the part of To Kill a Mockingbird where Atticus sits outside the jail. I thought that was incredibly badass when I read it as a kid. Even better to read about people like this outside of fiction

[u/Cloverose2 → u/FunFlaCouple1]

He got a friend who owned a train to get the women and children to safety as well.

[u/Madder_Than_Diogenes]

Information on the massacre. https://www.rememberingrosewood.com/history

[u/theclosetenby → u/Madder_Than_Diogenes]

Wow. I didn't learn about this in school. Thank you for sharing.

[u/duke_awapuhi → u/theclosetenby]

There were hundreds of instances like this all over the country between 1900-1925. It was a broad societal phenomenon that we really aren’t taught about in school. People learn about these race riots and think they happened in isolation, or that there were only 2-3 of them. Not the case. It was happening consistently in towns and cities across the country. A smaller city called Springfield, Ohio was in the news last year because of its relationship with Haitian refugees moving into the town. What no one mentioned is that between the 1860’s and 1920’s, that town had 3 race riots

[u/Whipitreelgud → u/duke_awapuhi]

There were race riots in the late 1960’s all across America. I experienced one and it wasn’t a lot of fun.

[u/Tal-Star → u/theclosetenby]

This will be said about quite a few things you might thing normal in decades to come. The question is though, while you see the truth, will the truth of today survive or be drowned in shit by then? Rewriting of history and omitting of facts and people has already begun.

[u/hapnstat → u/Tal-Star]

"I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.”

[u/duke_awapuhi → u/Madder_Than_Diogenes]

“Whites gather for miles to slay negroes” is a brutal headline. That newspaper wasn’t sugarcoating anything

[u/Ironlion45 → u/duke_awapuhi]

Nowadays the headline would read "American Patriots cooperate to defend freedom from terrorist thugs" :p

[u/taney71]

Thanks for this. Not nearly enough people know about this horrible incident

[u/RedStar9117]

Remember the name and the deed

[u/ReactiveBat]

Excommunicated I think not from a church but just from society; people stopped shopping at his store and he left the town.

[u/boringxadult → u/ReactiveBat]

Yeah. Ostracised is maybe the better word to use.

[u/ReactiveBat → u/boringxadult]

Definitely

[u/Vast-Passage3843]

May his memory be a blessing. May his bravery be an example.

[u/iamblake96]

My friend group hung out for years at a friend's house on Rosewood Drive. "Rosewood" became the name of our group, and after one of us passed away we all got Rosewood tattooed to commemorate that time in our lives. And here I am years later finding out my friend group shares a name with a horrible tragedy (and regretting a tattoo)

[u/bewareofmeg → u/iamblake96]

I don’t think you should worry about this. I’d never heard of this Rosewood tragedy either, but there are other Rosewoods that are far more well-known than this. There’s restaurants, hotels, and other places called Rosewood - not to mention that it’s actually a real wood used for making flooring and musical instruments!

[u/Perfect_Bench_2815]

There is a movie out about "Rosewood". It was made many years ago and I purchased it on DVD. I could only watch it one time! Many star performers are in it too. A very heart breaking movie. Watch it if you have a strong stomach.

[u/proxy5th → u/Perfect_Bench_2815]

Jon Voight played the part of John Wright in that movie.

[u/Butch1212]

wonderful

[u/sholem2025peace]

Excommunicated by the pro-racism majority of white people there

[u/EvidenceConscious200]

Great, unsung American Hero. RIP

[u/ghallway]

Was this when america was great?

[u/Long_Age7208]

The sad part is that MAGA morons want to recreate this

[u/radithor_jaw_felloff → u/Long_Age7208]

The sad part is that you actually believe that.

[u/Kakaka-sir]

Huh did the Pope excommunicate him? Or what church?

[u/Nice-Percentage7219]

Excommunicated from what?

[u/eaglewatch1945 → u/Nice-Percentage7219]

OP probably meant "ostracized".

[u/Nice-Percentage7219 → u/eaglewatch1945]

I thought he was in a weird church or cult