Ocoee Massacre victim being honored with historical marker

A historical marker honoring Julius “July” Perry will be unveiled during a ceremony in downtown Orlando on Friday, June 21.

The ceremony will be at 10:30 a.m. at Heritage Square, which is the park in front of the Orange County Regional History Center at 65 E. Central Blvd.

Perry was one of the victims of a tragic period commonly referred to today as the Ocoee Election Day Massacre of 1920. On election day 1920, a group of white men in the area of west Orange County that would later become the city Ocoee chased Moses Norman, a black land-owner, from the polls as he attempted to vote. That night, newly-deputized white men came to Perry’s home in search of Norman.

A shootout occurred between those in Perry’s home and the white men who came. After the shootout, Perry’s home was set ablaze. Perry was then captured, taken to jail and hanged in Orlando. In the weeks that followed, black residents of the area that would become Ocoee were subjected horrors committed by white mobs and government officials. Those residents were eventually forced out of town.

The ceremony is is sponsored by the Montgomery, Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative and the Truth and Justice Project of Orange County. Descendants of July Perry will be joined by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative to unveil the marker.