The US Army overturned the mutiny convictions of 110 Black soldiers stationed in Houston in 1917 who defended themselves against repeated attacks by white members of the community and the Houston Police Department, a clash that resulted in the death of at least 19 people, the Guardian reports.
After having repeatedly been subjected to racial attacks and ridicule in segregated Texas, members of the all-Black 24th Infantry Division marched into town after two of their members were beaten and detained by white Houston Police officers harassing people in a Black neighborhood. Much like the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, the 1917 Houston riot was largely dismissed because it was caused by police abuse in the Black community, targeting soldiers stationed there to prepare to fight in World War I.
Thirteen enlisted men, including a sergeant and four corporals, were hanged after courts-martial in which witnesses testified they could not identify specific suspects because the attack took place in dark and foggy weather. “We cannot change the past; however, this decision provides the Army and the American people an opportunity to learn from this difficult moment in our history,” Gabe Camarillo, the Undersecretary of the Army, said in a statement.