25 armed Black men set up defensive positions to protect Samuel L. Jones from a white mob in 1919 in Longview, Texas

In 1919, racial tensions in the U.S. were high, because of race riots that started in March of that year. The Longview, Texas race riot took place between July 10 – 12 where 1,790 blacks comprised 31% of the town’s 5,700 people in 1919.

Before the incident took place a teacher and newspaper correspondent Samuel L. Jones and Dr. Calvin P. Davis, prominent leaders of the black community, had started encouraging black farmers to avoid selling to white cotton brokers and to start selling directly to buyers in Galveston. There was also a cooperative store where they competed with and angered local white merchants. This caused racial tensions to rise in Longview before the riot took place.

In early June, a Black man Lemuel Walters, was beaten by two white men for allegedly making romantic advances towards their sister, a white woman from a nearby town Kilgore. Walters was arrested and put in jail, when a mob showed up at the jail on June 17, and the sheriff gave Walters to the mob, who shot and killed him. The story was printed in the Chicago Defender on July 10 and enraged local whites who blamed the article on Jones although he said he didn’t write the story.

Later that same day Jones was attacked and beaten across the street from the Gregg County courthouse by the same men who beat Walters. Dr. Davis picked up Jones  and took him to his office to treat him. The two men appealed to Mayor Gabriel A. Bodenheim for protection, however, were instead advised to leave the city. Jones hid with family and they got twenty-five friends to protect his home. Around midnight the next morning, a group of white men arrived at Jones home. The men were met with gunfire. Three of the white men were injured, and another who hid under a nearby house was beaten by the Black men who defended the home.

After the word spread of what happened, a crowd of almost 1,000 whites started to gather back in town with some breaking into Welch’s Hardware Store to take guns and ammunition. The mob burned down Jones’s home, Dr. Davis’s home and office, and a Black-owned dance hall. The Texas governor William P. Hobby sent eight Texas Rangers to Longview, but the violence kept going. Then on the night of July 12, Marion Bush, father-in-law of Dr. Davis, was killed by a local white farmer. On Sunday, July 13, Governor Hobby declared martial law in all of Gregg County, and ordered all residents of Longview to surrender their weapons at the county courthouse. An estimated 5,000 to 7,000 weapons were turned in, and more soldiers and Rangers came in town to end the riot.

Seventeen white men were arrested for attempted murder on July 14, however, they all were later released. Nine other white men were arrested for arson and then released as well. None of the men were prosecuted. Twenty-one black men were arrested for assault and attempted murder and moved to an Austin, Texas jail for their safety. Eventually, all the men were released without trials, to avoid any further unrest in Longview. Martial law ended on July 18, and citizens were allowed to retrieve their firearms the next day.

Sources:

Nielsen, E. (2020, October 09). Longview, Texas Race Riot, 1919. BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/longview-race-riot-1919/