BlackHistory365

That Summer When Buffalo Soldiers Marched Against Police Brutality in Houston

In 1917, 156 soldiers of the all-Black 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment rose against the brutal treatment of Black people by Houston police

Houston Press front page, August 24, 1917. Image: Houston Public Library

Often referred to in history as a “riot” and a “mutiny,” the actions of more than 150 Black soldiers in 1917 serve as a reminder of just how deep police brutality against Black Americans is rooted in U.S. history. While the story of the Black soldiers rebelling against Houston police occurred just after the United States declared war in World War I and during the Jim Crow era, the actions by local cops and members of the community leading up to the uprising speak to many of the same issues we still have today. The soldiers were provoked into an encounter that would demonize them as insolent in the eyes of White people.

Shortly after the declaration of war, the United States began construction on two military facilities in the Houston area, Camp Logan (now Memorial Park) and Ellington Field. The all-Black 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment was deployed from Columbus, New Mexico, to guard the construction site of Camp Logan in Harris County, Texas (just outside of Houston at the time). Accompanied by…