The Texas history that’s not in the textbooks
What the Camp Logan riot teaches us about 1917 — and now
Here’s a familiar-butunfamiliar story. It was a hot summer night. An incident in a black section of town led to a confrontation between white policemen and an African-American. Shots were fired, and the AfricanAmerican suspect was taken to jail. When word of the incident reached the larger community, rumors circulated that the police had killed a black man who tried to intervene. In response, a crowd of over 100 AfricanAmericans marched on the local police station, and the march turned into a riot. By the time it was over, 20 people had died, including 15 whites — four of whom were policemen.
These days, we see similar but smaller-scale stories in the news all too often. Each new incident lingers in the news for days or weeks.
But this incident isn’t new. It could have been the Watts section of Los Angeles in 1965. It could have been Newark or Detroit in 1967, or Washington, D.C., in 1968. It could have been these or many other cities that suffered race riots during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s — but it was none of these.
This incident occurred in Houston in 1917.
What? You never heard of the Camp Logan Riot? It is a compelling story in its own right — and the reason most Houstonians have never heard it is even more compelling.
WHEN THE United States entered World War I in April 1917, it was necessary to train an army quickly, and that required new military facilities. Harris County was designated for two of those training facilities, Ellington Field and Camp Logan. Ellington is still in service. Camp Logan is an archaeological site.
Camp Logan was built on the site of what is now Memorial Park. To help with construction and to guard the facility, the Army sent the all-black 3rd Battalion of the 24th United States Infantry, along with their seven white officers.
The proud unit left New Mexico, where they’d been engaged in the hunt for Pancho Villa, and were widely known by their nickname, “Buffalo soldiers.” In Houston, one of the most segregated cities in the U.S., they were assigned hard labor.
When they received passes out of the camp, they were forced to ride the streetcar to Freedmen’s Town, in Houston’s Fourth Ward, the only place they were allowed to find relaxation and entertainment. On these trips, the soldiers received all the discrimination, verbal and physical abuse, and racial hatred that was so common in America during the early 20th century. For months, the tension built.
The Aug. 23 incident between Houston police and the soldier from the 24th Infantry was the spark that touched off the riot. The aftermath of the riot is just as tragic. Between November 1917 and March 1918, the Army held several court-martial trials at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. One hundred and eighteen African-American soldiers were indicted for mutiny, and 110 were convicted. Sixty-three were given life sentences, and the rest sentenced to death. Of those sentenced to death, 19 were hanged in the largest mass execution in American military history.
Some were no doubt guilty. Most were just guilty of being there. And of being AfricanAmerican in 1917.
WHY DOESN’T the average Houstonian know about Camp Logan? The answer is simple: The incident was never taught to them. During my 37 years as a U.S. history teacher in Texas, I was never once provided a textbook that mentioned the Camp Logan riot.
Good history teachers know that simply learning names, dates, and events gives students very little understanding of the periods they’re studying. Facts without context are meaningless.
What were the conditions in Houston in 1917 that led people to discriminate against and segregate African-Americans? Was it considered acceptable to treat people this way during the Jim Crow era? Were they just following societal norms? Why, after hundreds of years of slavery and 50 years of discrimination and segregation, did this particular group of AfricanAmericans resort to violence and murder in reaction to an incident that was not unusual or unpredictable?
These and more are important questions. But students today are given no opportunity to explore, discuss, and answer them. The questions are not in the curriculum, the book, nor on the standardized test.
Historians like to joke that if something isn’t written down then it didn’t happen. That is exactly the case with the Texas history curriculum and textbooks. What is omitted, and why it was omitted, is often more important than what is included.
Who decides what is omitted? Well, the obvious answer is the textbook publisher. We must remember, however, that publishing is a business and publishers need to sell books. To be sold, the books must conform with curriculum guidelines developed by state education agencies, and in the case of Texas, adopted by the elected State Board of Education. It is an intensely political process dominated by ideology and deeply held beliefs about an America that people wish existed but in fact never really has.
The textbooks that emerge this process are devoid of controversy. They tell the story from a single perspective, robbing the student of the ability to see other points of view and to engage in critical thinking.
Instead of being bland and noncontroversial, textbooks should offer multiple perspectives on issues and direct students to the rich array of primary sources, where they can read the actual words of individuals who made history. Instead of avoiding controversy, textbooks need to embrace it and allow students to make up their own minds about the events being studied.
There are no right or wrong answers in history; there is only a greater understanding of the conditions that led individuals to take the actions that make up our history. A student who demonstrates that ability is a student who can apply the same skills to the issues that confront society today.
Andy Dewey is executive vice president of the Houston Federation of Teachers.