OCOEE, Fla. – A Central Florida town where dozens of African-Americans were massacred and the black community was burned down almost 100 years ago is renouncing its racist past.
Ocoee city commissioners are issuing a proclamation Tuesday acknowledging the attack on the black community in 1920 that caused African-Americans to move away for decades.
The proclamation is renouncing the city's past as "a sundown town," a place where African-Americans could be endangered if they were within city boundaries after sunset.
The Orlando Sentinel reports the proclamation says Ocoee will no longer be known as a "sundown city" but a "sunrise city."
In 1920, a white mob attacked Ocoee's black community after African-Americans attempted to vote. Hundreds of black families fled, leaving behind their homes and possessions.