On January 1, 1923, dubious claims of a sexual assault from a white woman against an unidentified Black man in the small community of Rosewood between Gainesville and Cedar Key set off a sequence of events that would leave untold numbers of people killed and Rosewood burned to the ground.
The event was completely forgotten and erased, except by those who experienced it and lingering myths and rumors in the area.
Then Gary Moore visited in 1982, completely unaware of what had happened there, stumbled on the story, and began reporting for the St. Petersburg Times, reporting which eventually led to his book, "Rosewood: The Full Story."