July 10, 1919, Longview Texas was
a mid-size city in the early 20th Century and had a
agricultural economy based on lumber and cotton production. Like many Southern
cities it had racial tension and at this time that tension was stronger than
usual after a lynching of a young black man in the previous month and Black
leaders suggesting that Black farmers take their business into their own hands
and sell their cotton directly to markets in Galveston.
These two events had thrown the
balance off in the town and long simmering resentments began to boil. The
lynching had been of a young Black man named Lemuel Walters. He had been
murdered reportedly for harassing and attacking a white woman. The standard
reason in so many mob murders during the Jim Crow era. Walters had been
arrested for his supposed crime and then surrendered to the mob by the sheriff.
This is what was reported in the local and regional papers. This case wasn’t so
simple and as reported in the national Black paper “The Defender” Walters had
actually been in a consensual relationship with the woman, who reportedly said
if they lived in the north she would have married Walters.
Regardless of who wrote this story, it would have been a spark in most Southern towns. Still, in Longview, it just so happened that the author of the story was a prominent local teacher and social leader Samuel L. Jones. Jones was one of the men advocating that local
farmers sell directly in Galveston and cut out the local brokers.
Jones was a marked man and on
this day two men claiming to be the woman’s brothers and a small group of men
found Jones at the courthouse and proceeded to beat him. Somehow Jones got away and found his friend and fellow activist Dr. Calvin Davis to aid
him. Davis took Jones to his house then sounded the alarm and organized a group
of Black men to help defend Jones.
After losing Jones the White
group gathered more men and they went out to Jones house to get him, finding
his home empty they set it on fire and burned it down. The mob then converged
on Davis’s house but were surprised by men firing guns from hidden positions.
Surprisingly no one was killed
but three White men were wounded by buckshot. One man who had tried to hide
under Davis’s porch was caught and badly beaten by the Black defenders. The mob
retreated to the Longview firehouse and rang the alarm and soon had an angry
mob of 500 or more who were angry about the idea of Blacks defending themselves.
The mob returned to the Black section of Longview and Davis’s house. However, Jones and Davis had left by then as had many other Black residents.
The mob was now close to 1,000. They set fire to Davis’s home and others owned by Blacks. They also began attacking and beating other Blacks. In
the riot that developed Dr. Davis’s father-in-law was killed. It happened early on the
morning of the 11th during an interaction with the sheriff.
Hoping to avoid further violence County
Judge E. M. Bramlette and Sheriff D. S. Meredith telephoned Governor William
P. Hobby and requested aid. Hobby ordered eight Texas Rangers to Longview. Hobby
also placed three units of the Texas National Guard on standby. As reports of
random acts of violence came to his office Judge Bramlette called back the governor
and requested the aid by sundown.
Brig. Gen. R. H. McDill was in
command of the guard units and up on arrival in town he placed it under martial
law. This included a curfew and an order to break up any group of three or more
men. This covered both the Black and White sections of town. McDill also ordered
all guns surrendered to the sheriff’s office at the courthouse. The Rangers
arrived the next morning and started making arrests to restore order.
White rage had won again as the
only death was Dr. Davis’s father-in-law and the property damage was all to Black
homes. Unlike so many other riots in the Red Summer of 1919 17 White men were
arrested for attempted murder. The Rangers also arrested 21 Black men, but it
was recorded as for their own safety and they were taken to Rangers barracks in
Austin. None of these arrests were ever brought to trial though and by July 18 martial
law was ended and weapons were being returned to citizens, both Black and
White.
Sources:
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/longview-race-riot-of-1919
https://www.newspapers.com/image/432923064/?match=1&terms=Riot
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