Intersectional Violence, New Media, and the 1923 Rosewood Pogrom

Abstract

This article provides a broad overview of emerging new media technologies as they support the traditional goals of Black Studies. Three specific forms of new media are explored in relation to the tragic history of Rosewood, Florida: virtual world environments, online worlds, and digital storytelling. These technologies were combined to bring the development and destruction of Rosewood to life in the present. A predominantly African American town, Rosewood was destroyed by racially charged collective violence during the first week of 1923. Although, referred to as the Rosewood Race Riot or Massacre, this event is more accurately described as a pogrom. The article also introduces the author's conceptualization of intersectional violence, a deeply contextual analysis of historic violence as it relates to the present. The construction of a virtual world environment and investigation of intersectional violence are made possible by the use of geographic information systems (GIS) to document the spatial and soci...