Though most of the film is based on true events, the film's main character, Mann, is mostly fiction creation. He is likely based on a report in the Chicago Defender a week after the massacre, claiming that a soldier named Ted Cole appeared and fought against the lynch mobs. The claim was never repeated, nor verified.
John Singleton cited Schindler's List (1993) as a movie that was a major reason he sought out this specific film to direct.
Rosewood was located in Levy County, Florida, southwest of Gainesville, near Cedar Key.