On July 8, 1860, the temperature in Dallas reached 115 degrees. A combustible fire beginning outside of W.W. Peak and Brothers drugstore destroyed most of downtown. At the time, national tensions ran high over the right to enslave human beings. Many were driven by suspicion of Northern abolitionists and a…
Here lie two criminals, lynched in Wichita Falls Foster Crawford 1862-1896 Elmer “Kid” Lewis 1877-1896 Whether right or wrong, no mercy was shown as the vengeance of this community was quickly delivered for the horrendous crime they committed. May God rest their souls….
On Tuesday, December 6, 1921, Mr. Fred Rouse, an African-American husband, father of three, and non-union butcher for Swift & Co., was attacked by white union strikers and agitators in the Niles City Stockyards (now part of Fort Worth). Mr. Rouse sustained stab wounds and broken bones. His skull was…
On August 2, 1920, Lige Daniels, an African American man, was confined inside the county jail in Center, Texas awaiting trial. News of his arrest spread quickly through Shelby County and the state. Mr. Daniels was accused of killing a white woman during a time when deep racial hostility burdened…
On March 3, 1910, a 59-year-old Black handyman named Allen Brooks was lynched by a white mob. Mr. Brooks was accused—without evidence—of assaulting his white employer’s daughter. During a pretrial hearing for Mr. Brooks at the Dallas County Courthouse (now the Old Red Courthouse), a mob of at least 3,000…
After Reconstruction, white southerners began adopting laws and codes, known as Jim Crow laws or black codes, that affected everyday life for African Americans. One instrument of enforcement was the threat of violence as well as actual violence, including lynching. Although more often associated with rural areas, lynchings did occur…