New Texas residents taking Harvey in stride.
The final events commemorating the 1917 Camp Logan Riot have been canceled amid preparations for Hurricane Harvey, but work has been scheduled to repair a state historical marker found desecrated the day after its unveiling this week in Memorial Park.
The impending tropical system shut down schools, flights and concerts and wiped out the capstone Camp Logan events — a theatrical production and lecture series.
“It’s an obvious disappointment,” said Angela Holder, a history professor at Houston Community College whose great uncle, Jesse Moore, was among the Camp Logan soldiers of the 24th Infantry executed after the mutiny. “We really had an outstanding group of scholars and authors — and the descendants. Hopefully, somewhere down the road, we will be able to revisit this program.”
The 24th Infantry was one of the four post-Civil War Regiments of black servicemen, during a time of military segregation, who were called Buffalo Soldiers.
The Camp Logan events organized by the Houstonbased Buffalo Soldiers National Museum coincided with the state historical marker’s facelift, which repaired a crack on the back of the metal sign. Two spritzes of what appears to be rust-toned
spray paint were discovered Thursday across words on the front.
Vandals marred the newly restored marker mere hours after its rededication on Wednesday by local officials, preservationists and historians.
P. J. Matthews, founder of the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, said the remaining centennial events may be rescheduled later this year or next August.
Cleanup imminent
The marker is the property of the Texas Historical Commission. Officials with the Memorial Park Conservancy, which manages the park for the city, consulted the commission upon learning of the market’s desecration, according to conservancy chief operation officer Cara Rudelson.
“The City of Houston graffiti abatement team has been charged with cleaning up the monument,” she said. “They’re very, very experienced with solvents and things like that to remove the graffiti and restore the marker.”
Debra Blacklock-Sloan, the marker rededication chair of the Harris County Historical Commission, had asked the conservancy to move the sign to a more visible place before the rededication.
Rudelson said the marker stands in a “prominent” area that is “highly trafficked” by the public, conservancy crews and police.
“We feel very strongly about acknowledging this story,” she added. “Our only concern is that, given all of the construction going on in the park right now, any relocation would be temporary. We want to really find a proper home for it.”
The marker commemorates the park as the site of a World War I camp that trained black troops, as well as the associated 1917 racial riot and its aftermath that became one of Houston’s darkest episodes.
In August 1917, black soldiers from the Army’s Third Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment left against orders from camp in reaction to humiliating and sometimes physically abusive treatment by local white citizens and police officers. In the end, 16 people died — including five police officers — and 22 others were believed to have been wounded, although historical accounts vary. The riot, one of the only such incidents in American history where more whites involved died than blacks, was followed by murder trials resulting in 19 men executed by hanging and 53 sentenced to life in prison. According to Holder, the last defendant was released by 1938.
Storm takes precedence
Houston Police Department spokesman Jodi Silva confirmed Friday that detectives are investigating the marker vandalism.
“It is a priority; it just isn’t a priority at this second,” she said. “All of our direction has been turned to emergency preparedness right now.”