Altamese Wrispus, founder of Rosewood Massacre Reunion, died Wednesday
Altamese Lewis Wrispus, a founding member of an organization for descendants of the Rosewood Massacre, died Wednesday in Dade City. She was 93.
Wrispus and her late sister, Annie Belle Lewis Lee, founded Rosewood Family Reunion Inc. in 1983. She was the oldest descendant of the Rosewood Massacre, a poet and wrote the story of the massacre that was read by her young niece in Tallahassee when reparations for survivors and descendants were announced.
Visitation will be Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m. at Milton Funeral Home in Dade City. A celebration of life will be Wednesday at Moore-Mickens Education Center in Dade City.
Rosewood Family Reunion holds gatherings and provides support for descendants of the massacre.
In 1923 a mob of whites, reacting to a false claim that a Black man had assaulted a white woman, burned all buildings, killed some and drove survivors out of the area in the small town in Levy County.
The official number of people killed was eight but other accounts say more than 100 were slain.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Altamese Wrispus, founder of Rosewood Massacre Reunion, died Wednesday
