80 years ago today.

Growing up in Beaumont, I didn't hear about this until a few years ago.

HT
@TxStHistAssoc

Beaumont, Texas

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History

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When the city became a major center for defense shipbuilding during World War II, tens of thousands of rural Texans migrated there for the new high-paying jobs. The Roosevelt administration ordered the defense industry to be integrated, and many Southern whites were working closely with blacks for the first time. Housing was scarce in the crowded city, and racial tensions increased. In June 1943 after workers at the Pennsylvania shipyards in Beaumont learned that a white woman had accused a black man of raping her, nearly 2,000 went to the jail where a suspect was being held, attracting more men along the way and reaching a total of 4,000.[20] Ultimately the white mob rioted for three days, destroying major black neighborhoods and killing five persons. No one was prosecuted for the deaths. The riot in Beaumont was one of several in 1943 which centered in the defense industry, including Los Angeles,[21] Detroit,[22] and Mobile, Alabama as well as other cities across the country.[23] The wartime social disruption was similar to war time riots which had occurred in other parts of the country during and following World War I.

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[20] James S. Olson. "Beaumont riot of 1943". The Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved July 28, 2015.

[21] "Los Angeles Zoot Suit Riots". Los Angeles Almanac. Retrieved January 2, 2015.

[22] "Hatred on the Home Front: The Race Riots During WWII" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130607202717/http://life.time.com/history/detroit-race-riots-1943-photos-from-a-city-in-turmoil-during-wwii/). Time Inc. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2015.

[23] "Detroit Race Riots 1943". WGBH Educational Foundation. Retrieved September 22, 2015. In many cities the demands of wartime were manifesting themselves in outbursts of intolerance. Race riots had already erupted in Los Angeles, as well as Mobile, Alabama, and Beaumont, Texas.

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