Rosewood

Rosewood is a 1997 American historical drama film directed by John Singleton, inspired by the 1923 Rosewood massacre in Florida, when a white mob killed black people and destroyed their town. In a major change, it stars Ving Rhames as an outsider who comes into Rosewood and inspires residents to self-defense, wielding his pistols in a fight. The supporting cast includes Don Cheadle as Sylvester Carrier, a resident who was a witness, defender of his family and victim of the riot; and Jon Voight as John Wright, a sympathetic white store owner who lives in Rosewood. The three characters become entangled in an attempt to save people from racist White people attacking the Black residents of Rosewood. Despite generally favorable reviews the film was not a commercial success, and was unable to recoup its $17 million budget at the box office. The film was entered into the 47th Berlin International Film Festival. Plot Mann is a mysterious World War I veteran who is scouting out land to buy. He comes to the town of Rosewood, a small and predominantly black town in Florida. Rosewood is home to the Carriers, an upwardly mobile black family, led by a matriarch, Aunt Sarah, and her proud, headstrong son, Sylvester. Mann soon meets Beulah "Scrappie" Carrier, Sylvester's young cousin and the two quickly fall in love. Aunt Sarah works as a housekeeper for James Taylor and his wife, Fanny, a white couple who lives in the white town of Sumner. Fanny, who has a history of cheating on her husband, has a rendezvous with her lover while her husband is at work. Fanny argues with her lover, who ends up beating her. Aunt Sarah and her granddaughter, Lee Ruth, overhear the argument and the subsequent beating but do not intervene. A distraught Fanny, despairing of explaining her injuries to her husband, leaves her house and calls for help. She then tells several townspeople that she has been beaten by a black man. The white residents readily believe Fanny's claim. Hearing of an escaped black convict named Jesse Hunter, a posse from Sumner and nearby towns goes to Rosewood to investigate. The black residents of Rosewood are quickly targeted by a white mob, including men from out of state and members of the Ku Klux Klan.