Port Arthur riot 1919

Port Arthur riot 1919

Part of Red Summer
July US News coverage of the Port Arthur riot 1919
Date	July 15, 1919
Location	Port Arthur, Texas
Non-fatal injuries	Dozens wounded

The Port Arthur riot happened on July 15, 1919, in Port Arthur, Texas. Violence started after a group of white men objected to an African American smoking near a white woman on a street car.^[1] A "score" of whites and twice that number of African Americans battled in the streets leaving two seriously injured and dozens with minor injuries.^[2]

Aftermath

This uprising was one of several incidents of civil unrest that began in the so-called American Red Summer, of 1919. Terrorist attacks on black communities and white oppression in over three dozen cities and counties. In most cases, white mobs attacked African American neighborhoods. In some cases, black community groups resisted the attacks, especially in Chicago and Washington DC. Most deaths occurred in rural areas during events like the Elaine Race Riot in Arkansas, where an estimated 100 to 240 black people and 5 white people were killed. Also in 1919 were the Chicago Race Riot and Washington D.C. race riot which killed 38 and 39 people respectively, and with both having many more non-fatal injuries and extensive property damage reaching up into the millions of dollars.^[3]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Port Arthur riot 1919.

1. ^ The Bossier Banner 1919, p. 1
2. ^ The Pensacola Journal 1919, p. 1
3. ^ The New York Times 1919