For one survivor, the 1920 Election Day massacre in Florida was ‘the night the devil got loose’

Descendants of July Perry attend a 2019 ceremony unveiling a historical marker of his lynching. AP Photo/John Raoux by Jerald Podair, Lawrence University Mose Norman, a Black registered voter, was ready to cast his ballot for presidential candidate Warren G. Harding. But when he arrived at his polling place on Election Day, Nov. 2, 1920, in the orange grove town of Ocoee, Florida, near Orlando, Norman was turned away by White election officials because of supposed unpaid poll taxes. His name and the names of hundreds of other registered Black voters had been removed from the rolls by White poll workers. The Black voters were told that only the notary public could verify their registrations, and he was out of town. When Norman and the other Black voters protested, the poll workers physically kicked them out of the building. The racial tension only got worse as the day went on. In Ocoee, Election Day ended in a lynching. In what became known as the largest incident of Election Day violence in U.S. history, the tragedy in Ocoee stands as a stark reminder of the racist barriers Black voters faced as they attempted to exercise their basic right to vote. But...