Michael D'Orso Collection on the Rosewood Massacre

Access and use

Location of collection:
Old Dominion University
3023 Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library
Old Dominion University
4427 Hampton Blvd
Norfolk, VA 23529
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Jessica Ritchie
Phone: (757) 683-4483
Fax: (757) 683-5954
Restrictions:

Open to researchers without restrictions.

Terms of access:

Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from Special Collections and University Archives, and the holder of the copyright, if not Old Dominion University Libraries.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Box [insert number], Folder [insert number and title], Michael D'Orso Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Summary

Extent:
6.00 Linear Feet and 13 Hollinger document cases, 2 cassette boxes boxes
Creator:
D'Orso, Michael
Abstract:
Writer for the Virginia Pilot Newspaper, author of 13 nonfiction books. This collection contains D'Orso's notes and research material collected while writing Like Judgment Day: The Ruin and Redemption of a Town Called Rosewood. The collection includes interview tapes and transcripts, photographs, newspaper clippings, and other research materials.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Box [insert number], Folder [insert number and title], Michael D'Orso Papers, Special Collections and University Archives, Old Dominion University Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains notes and research material collected by Michael D'Orso while writing Like Judgment Day: The Ruin and Redemption of a Town Called Rosewood. The book concerns the massacre of an African American village in Florida in 1923. Included in the collection are interview tapes and transcripts of survivors; manuscripts and galley proofs for the book; as well as photographs, newspaper clippings, and other background research related to the Rosewood case. In 1994, Florida became the first state to compensate survivors and their dependents for damages incurred due to racial violence.

Biographical / historical:

Mike D'Orso earned both his undergraduate degree in philosophy and his master's degree in English from the College of William and Mary. He taught high school English and has been a staff writer for Commonwealth magazine. As a writer for the Virginian-Pilot Newspaper he won numerous national honors including the Penney-Missouri Prize for general feature writing and three Pulitzer Prize nominations. D'Orso's work has also appeared in publications such as Sports Illustrated, Fortune, Reader's Digest and People magazine. Additionally he has written a chapter on journalism research methods for The Complete Book of Feature Writing; and his writing on author Jack Kerouac has been included in both Studies in American Fiction and the QPB Literary Review. Mike D'Orso has also written 13 non-fiction books (see Bibliography). Included among those works is Like Judgment Day: The Ruin and Redemption of a Town Called Rosewood, which was a New York Times best- seller, and American Library Association Notable Book of the Year, and winner of the Lillian Smith Book Award for writing on the subject of social justice. The Papers of Mike D'Orso housed in the Old Dominion University Special Collections consists of his notes, interview transcripts, research done while writing Like Judgement Day.

Note written by Special Collections Staff

Acquisition information:

Michael D'Orso

Gift. Accession #99-10

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into five series: Series I: Interviewees and Historical Figures; Series II: Background Research; Series III: Legal/Legislative Papers; Series IV: Editing of Manuscript; and Series V: Audio, Video, Electronic Files.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard