Houston riot of 1917

Houston riot of 1917
Court Martial of 64 members of the 24th Infantry. Trial started November 1, 1917, Fort Sam Houston
Date23 August 1917
Location
Houston, Texas, U.S.
Parties
Lead figures

Sergeant Vida Henry †

General John Wilson Ruckman
Sheriff John Tobin

Casualties and losses
Deaths: Five (four killed by friendly fire during the riot and one suicide)
Injuries:
Arrests: 60+
Deaths: 16 (11 civilians and five policemen)
unknown number of wounded
19 soldiers executed

The Houston race riot of 1917, also known as the Camp Logan Mutiny,[1][2] was a mutiny and riot by 156 soldiers from the all-black 24th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army, taking place on August 23, 1917, in Houston, Texas. The incident occurred within a climate of overt racist hostility from members of the all-white Houston Police Department (HPD) against members of the local black community and black soldiers stationed at Camp Logan. Following an incident where police officers arrested and assaulted black soldiers, many of their comrades mutinied and marched to Houston. There they opened fire and killed eleven civilians (including a minor, Freddie Winkler) and five policemen. Five soldiers were also killed in exchanges of gunfire with the police.

In accordance with policies of the time, 118 soldiers were tried in three courts-martial. This was the largest murder trial in US history.[3] A total of 110 were convicted, of whom 19 were executed and 63 were sentenced to life imprisonment.[4] Gregg Andrews, author of Thyra J. Edwards: Black Activist in the Global Freedom Struggle, wrote that the riot "shook race relations in the city and created conditions that helped to spark a statewide surge of wartime racial activism".[5]

In November 2023, the Army set aside all 110 convictions. It acknowledged they had not received fair trials in the racist climate of the time period. The Army gave all the men honorable discharges, enabling any of their descendants to receive military benefits.[6]

  1. ^ "Camp Logan Mutiny Revisited | THC.Texas.gov - Texas Historical Commission". www.thc.texas.gov. 6 June 2017. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  2. ^ "Camp Logan Mutiny | NAACP". naacp.org. 2018-01-01. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Borch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Haynes, Robert V. "Houston Riot of 1917". Handbook of Texas. Texas State Historical Association.
  5. ^ Andrews, Gregg. Thyra J. Edwards: Black Activist in the Global Freedom Struggle. University of Missouri Press, 2011/06/14. ISBN 0-8262-1912-8, 9780826219121. p. 20.
  6. ^ "A century later, U.S. Army overturns convictions of 110 Black soldiers". NBC News. November 14, 2023.