Yesterday This as Home: Bus Fire

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Sam was nervous that the driver might return with others capable of who knows what. The possibility existed that he might be lynched for not moving to the back of the bus.As he remembered his nervousness, I have a time lapse painting of a bus fire that occurred in the height of the civil rights movement. The freedom riders were, backs and whites who rode the bus together in solidarity but were beaten and the bus was lit on fire by white supremacists.

From this moment onward, the camera pans up and I painted smoke as it wafted out of the open bus door. This bus fire happened the month I was born and thus after the events that transpired in 1957. The Freedom Riders were attacked by a mob in Anniston, Alabama. The mob attacked the bus with baseball bats and iron pipes. They also slashed the tires. When the hobbled bus pulled over, the mob pulled riders off the bus and beat them with pipes. Then they set the bus on fire.

This film is now on display at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL) for the new exhibition, Yesterday This Was Home, about the 1920 Ocoee Voting Day Massacre. The exhibition is open until February 14, 2021. The 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays the museum will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Yesterday This Was Home: We might have to move to the back of the bus.

Posted on by Thor

Sam points out that they might be asked to move to the back of the bus. This close up dialogue scene was done early since it helped me figure out the general look of the boy and how to structure the head for head turns. It is not a perfect scene but i learned a whole lot doing it.

I actually finished the final edit of the film today and turned it in. Now I have several other I need to do over the next two days. They will not be fully story boarded like this one but I have figured out how to layer various paintings together in the timeline using green screens. I am excited to try the process out.

This and the other films will be on display October 3, 2020 to February 14, 2021 at the Orange County Regional History Center ( 65 East Central Blvd Orlando FL). The exhibition is about the 1920 Ocoee Massacre in Orange County, Florida, remains the largest incident of voting-day violence in United States history.

Events unfolded on Election Day 1920, when Mose Norman, a black U.S. citizen, attempted to exercise his legal right to vote in Ocoee and was turned away from the polls. That evening, a mob of armed white men came to the home of his friend, July Perry, in an effort to locate Norman. Shooting ensued. Perry was captured and eventually lynched. An unknown number of African American citizens were murdered, and their homes and community were burned to the ground. Most of the black population of Ocoee fled, never to return.

This landmark exhibition will mark the 100-year remembrance of the Ocoee Massacre. The exhibition will explore not only this horrific time in our community’s history but also historical and recent incidents of racism, hatred, and terror, some right here at home.

The content will encourage reflection on a century of social transformation, the power of perspective, and the importance of exercising the right to vote, and will ask what lessons history can inspire for moving forward.

To promote safe distancing, the museum has implemented new ticketing procedures for this special exhibition. These procedures go into effect after October 3, 2020. For the run of the exhibition, the museum will have extended operating hours to create a safe viewing experience for a greater number of people. On Sundays after October 3, we will open two hours earlier at 10 am. and stay open two hours earlier until 7 p.m. And on Thursdays, we will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

1920 Ocoee and Beyond

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An event was held at Valencia West building 8, Special Events Center (1800 South Kirkman Road, Orlando, Fl) in honor of the people who lost their lives in the Ocoee Massacre. On November 2, 1920 the day of the United States Presidential Election, a white mob attacked African-American residents in Ocoee, Florida. As many as 35 African Americans may have been killed during the
riot, and most African-American-owned buildings and residences in Ocoee were burned to the ground, while others were later killed or driven out on threat of more
violence. West Orange was incorporated in 1922, and Ocoee essentially became an all-white town. The riot has been
described as the “single bloodiest day in modern American political
history”.

Perhaps the most horrific thing about this event is that we concretely know so little. We do not actually know who started what, how many African-Americans were killed, who ran to where, and whose property was stolen versus later sold, and whether or not for a fair price. There are many many versions of the narrative surrounding the Ocoee Massacre/Riot and little verifiable source documentation to back it up. Generally, the story goes as follows.

Mose Norman, a prosperous African-American land owner, tried to vote but was turned away on Election Day for not having paid his poll tax. In anger and frustration, Norman returned to the to the polling place. allegedly with a gun and tyring to get the names of the people who were illegally trying to
keep him from voting. He was sent packing again. Norman took refuge in  the home of Julius “July” Perry, another prominent African American land owner.  

Colonel Sam Salisbury, a prominent white native New Yorker and a former chief of police of Orlando, led a group of white officers and other men to find and presumably punish Mose Norman. He later proudly lauded his part in the massacre that followed. Sam knocked on the door of July Perry and July came out. When July was grabbed, a shot rang out injuring one of the white officers.  Suddenly bullets were flying. It is unknown how many people were inside the house, how many were armed, and who actually was shooting, but in all, we do know that several white men were injured, 2 white men were killed, and only have any sort of proof that July Perry was seriously wounded along with his daughter Coretha. She escaped with her mother and children out the back door into a cane field.

The whites laid waste to
the African-American community in West Orange. Fires burned a reporeted 18 or more black homes, two churches, and a lodge.  July Perry was reportedly taken to the Orange General Hospital (now Orlando Health), then to be taken to the jail. It is unclear whether he was taken by a mob en route to the jail or whether he was pulled from his cell, the jailor overwhelmed by the mob. Accounts vary from his being drug behind a car, his body being riddled with bullets, and being hung from either a pole or a tree. The location of said hanging is also very unclear and ranges from Church Street to up near the Country Club.

Norman escaped and relocated to New York City, eventually selling all of his land in Ocoee. Hundreds of other African Americans
fled the town, leaving behind their homes and possessions.

Descendants of July Perry were in the audience of this Ocoee and Beyond event. Two of them are in my sketch seated at the table in front of me. They got up to talk a bit about their family’s experiences through the years. Being two or three generations removed, they didn’t have any direct commentary about July Perry. Their families fled Ocoee, moving to other states and the family continues to thrive. The evening was filled out with music and dance. Pam Schwartz of the Orange County Regional History Center was there because the museum plans to mount an exhibition about the Ocoee Massacre around the time of the 2020 elections. In front of the History Center, a historic marker was put up to remind modern residents about the Ocoee Election Day Massacre.

This event was not about placing blame or  anger at the past, but to find ways to heal and grow together as a community moving forward. It was a look at Central Florida’s past so that we do not repeat it.

The 1920 census listed the following African American land-owing families, though there were more than 250 African Americans living in Ocoee at the time.

Anderson, Garfield and Janey Bell; two children; eldest son Sidney

Battsey, Randolph and Annie; daughters Alice and Bessie; owned farm

Blackshear, Martin and Candyce; four children, oldest son Morgan

Blue, Sanborri and Lilly

Dennys, Thomas and Lavinia

Dighs, Edward and Willamina

Edwards, John and Genie; oldest son Usteen

Frank (or Franks), Daniel and Carrie; four children, oldest son Allen

Green, Sally; six children, oldest son, Jeremiah; owned farm

Hampton, Jackson and Anna; owned farm

Hightower, Valentine and Janie; three children; owned farm

Johnson, Stephen and Julia; three grandsons, oldest James

Langmede, James and Eva; son Starland

Lynch, Richard and Fanny

McRae, William and Doda

Penzer, Kerry and Elisa; three children, oldest son Edson

Moore, Rocky and Daisy; five children, oldest son William

Nelson, Stephen and Julia; two children, son Edward

Perry, Julius P. and Stella; five children, oldest son Charles; home listed as “contested”

Surrency, Jessie and Grace; four children, oldest son Damott

Slater, Victoria; son Mason

Warron, Wade and Rhina; five children, oldest son Porter

The weekly Ocoee Parking Lot Bluegrass Jam.

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Every Friday on the corner of Maguire and Colonial in Ocoee, musicians gather in the parking lot behind the Twisty Treat ice cream shop to perform Bluegrass music. This tradition began 25 years ago. Different musicians show up each week to sit in. Outside this tight circle of performers, locals in the know, stop out with their lawn chairs to watch. A large semi truck cab was parked nearby with it’s loud diesel engine rumbling. He must have been parked there to watch. Children laughed from the windows of a white family van. My bet is this that parents had the heater on to stay warm.

The Ocoee Parking Lot Bluegrass Jam is a well-established, open jam and
has welcomes pickers of all skill levels. People of all ages and
backgrounds enjoy the Jams. It’s very much a place for families, young
couples, retirees, children, pets, and tourists.
Weather permitting the Jam begins every Friday evening at 6:30.

The orange glow lighting under the parking lot lamp was magical. On this night the temperate was down in the low 60’s with a crisp wind to add a wind chill factor. When the musicians took a break to get another layer of clothes, I did the same. With a skull cap and wind breaker jacket, I was nice and toasty. I recognized most of the folk songs and sang along. “Will the Circle be Unbroken” seemed particularly appropriate sung by this tight knit circle of friends. Between songs they might ask about a musician who hadn’t shown. It was clear they look out for each other.

This is one of the few old Florida traditions that remains in a digital age where the world speeds by. There is a comforting small town warmth that comes from watching this parking lot jam. It is like the feeling , had as a child when first watching a small town parade. Musicians and locals would catch up and chat between sets.

I worked on my Wacom tablet since I figured the computer CPU might help warm my hands. A banjo player complained the his fingers were cold. He later told me the he came to watch one of the parking lot jam sessions and one of the musicians walked up to him and asked, “Do you play banjo?” “Why yes, how did you know?” the man responded. “you look like a banjo player”. Since the banjo was in his car, he ended up performing from that night onward.

Locals looked over my shoulder to watch the sketch in progress. “You should show that to Paul.” I was told. Paul has shot about 200 YouTube videos of these spontaneous parking lot jams. Because of these videos, people come from around the world to watch or sit in on a jam. The digital age has made this home grown tradition internationally known. After about an hour, the group began to disperse. I was disappointed because I could have used another hour to help refine the warm lighting in the scene. A sketch by definition is never quite finished however so I had to accept what I could catch in the time I had.