Martial Law: The Camp Logan Riot Of 1917

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In 1917, Houston, Texas was placed under martial law. The Houston Riot of 1917, or the Camp Logan Riot, was a mutiny by 156 African American soldiers of the Third Battalion of the all-black Twenty-fourth United States Infantry Regiment. The riot only lasted for one night, but it resulted in the deaths of four soldiers and sixteen civilians. In the days to follow, a total of nineteen people would be executed and forty-one were given life sentences.
Just months after America’s entry into World War I, the construction division of the army was created in May 1917 to build sixteen National Guard camps in locations across the nation. (Haynes, 2010) On June 14, 1917, it was announced that Houston had been awarded a camp site for a division of the Illinois National Guard. The military installation, located on the northwest outskirts of the city was named Camp Logan. …show more content…

The battalion’s arrival to Texas was met with great hostility from the white residents. “So opposed were whites to the very sight of black men in uniform that it was not unusual for trains carrying black troops to be fired on as they passed through Southern towns.” (Dorau, 1988) Houston patrolmen harassed and arrested soldiers for minor infractions and perceived slights that further increased racial tensions in the

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