The Beginning of Hell | Bayou Brief 2. Reposted from The Gambit Weekly: The Lee Street Riot and the - CenLamar The Thibodaux Massacre (November 23, 1887) - BlackPast.org "And I was convinced that that was not the case.". "Aside from the civilians and soldiers enjoying that night, were dozens of military police from the local camps, both Black and white, with the white MPs being the only ones fully armed to handle any trouble caused by the soldiers on Lee," he said. (KALB) - Expert researchers and historians spent Tuesday at Holly Oak Cemetery in Pineville, searching for a rumored mass gravesite. . Streets, buildings, cemeteries, and the land itself are saturated with history and the . The violent crime rate in Alexandria, Louisiana, of 968 incidents per 100,000 people is among the highest in the United States. "I hadn't heard about it before Mrs. Compton turned it over to us," said Clifton Jackson of the Buffalo Motorcycle Club in a 2016 Town Talk article. The town makes most of its annual revenue by doling out speeding tickets, under the regime of Police Chief James Speedy Gonzales. And he also knows when there is something unusual like what we would call a mass grave - like when bodies are extremely close together to the point of overlapping.". Editors of Democratic newspapers repeatedly warned of dire consequences if the Republican party continued winning victories at the polls. In the case of thevictims of the Lee Street incident, Holt theorized that they could have been shroud burials, meaning they were wrapped in cloth,instead of buried in coffins. "The thesis in my article, essentially was that the Army's official report was a distortion of what actually happened," said Simpson. The Colfax massacre, sometimes referred to as the Colfax riot, occurred on Easter Sunday, April 13, 1873, in Colfax, Louisiana, the parish seat of Grant Parish. And others who were wounded hid under houses where they died. The Caucasian (Alexandria, La.) 1874-1875 | Library of Congress D.S. The quick and easy way to find all the exciting Halloween attractions in the Louisiana area for 2023! Louisiana was receiving national attention for the "race war" unfolding there with regular assassinations, massacres, and lynchings. Instead, their actions sparked a massacre. Alexandria Obituaries | Obits for the Alexandria, LA Area - Legacy.com The 5th Army Headquarters at Camp Beauregard refused to allow the press to interview any of the soldiers or MPs who were involved, said Simpson. "Others say a massacre occurred in a matter that reportedly lasted between 2 and 6 hours. We may never know the full and complete story of what transpired on Lee Street. The number of soldiersand possibly civilianskilled is unknown. Lamar is best known for his investigative reporting on public corruption, racism, and civil rights. The Bayou Brief is Louisianas only statewide, completely free, member-supported digitally-oriented publication. So read the note found on the schoolhouse door by its intended recipient: Emerson Bentley, a white school teacher. By the 14th of February, the 550-bed hospital had close to 900 patients. The Alexandria, Louisiana Lee Street Riot," it generated renewed (albeit temporary) local interest in the subject. The shiny new black marble monument dedicated to the victims of the Colfax Massacre sits next to the railroad tracks on Eighth Street, not far from where the atrocity took place on April 13, 1873. Murders of Czar Nicholas II of Russia and His Family - ThoughtCo allegedly fired his gun at a Black soldier leaving the Ritz Theater, attempting to arrest the man for disorderly conduct. The soldiers were all unarmed; the military police and state troopers, however, had an arsenal at their disposal. In January, Woods wrote to Louisiana Economic Development (LED), the state agency responsible for historical markers, telling them of his family connection to the massacre and urging the sign's . This would be an important precedent for the subsequent wave of lynchings that occurred in Louisiana from the 1890s through the early decades of the twentieth century, in which lynch mobs killed more than 400 persons, most of them African American.. The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Those black soldiers mostly came from northern states. 3517 Obituaries. As one scholar noted, Blacks lived so far away from the main facilities it seemed to have no physical connection at all with the camp itself. "Local Black citizens, the local chapter of the NAACP, and others, they were convinced from the get-go that more happened than what the Army was saying," he said. Colfax, LA Map & Directions - MapQuest The Alexandria Massacre of 11 June 1882 and the British - JSTOR The camp, of course, is a ghost town. In September 1868, Southern white Democrats hunted down around 200 African-Americans in an effort to suppress voter . While there is scant evidence of premeditation or planning, his initial reporting on deaths was later corroborated, at least in part, by White officers themselves. What we know about the victims of the Uvalde school shooting Alexandria, LA (04/10/2023) The Alexandria Police Department (APD) is investigating a traffic collision that occurred last night involving an off-road. I simply wanted to find the truth.. how to store unopened contact lenses pacifica high school basketball oxnard pacifica high school basketball oxnard Colfax Massacre | Red River Historian Lynching became routinized in Louisiana, a systematic way by which whites sought to assert white supremacy in response to African-American resistance, said historian Michael Pfeifer, the author of The Roots of Rough Justice: Origins of American Lynching, by email. In 1940, 8,000 construction workers began moving into Central Louisiana, building the entire place in less than a year. So, they could be looking for small targets at that point andit could become problematic. The contradiction between the official report and oral history is what kept Simpson interested. Property values skyrocketed as a result. On the first night, only one small group of armed African-Americans assembled to deal with the report theyd heard about Bentley. Alexandria was burned to the ground by the Union, and emancipation upturned the regions economy, which had been largely dependent on slave labor and the slave trade. With the help of tens of thousands of black citizens who finally had the right to vote, Republicans handily won local and state elections that spring. And according to ananonymous letter, their bodies were buried in a mass grave at Holly Oak Cemetery in Pineville. 27th May 2023 Events in Alexandria, Louisiana "The Black troops who were in town on liberty weekend, were not armed," he said. . On September 13, the Republicans held a meeting in the town of Washington, not far from Opelousas, and found streets lined with armed Seymour Knights. With Louisiana passing a new state constitution in April 1868 that included male enfranchisement and access to state schools regardless of color, Bentley had reason to feel optimistic about the states future. This year, the city of Alexandria, Louisiana installed a historical marker commemorating a confrontation between African American soldiers and white military police during World War II. In 1940, Alexandria had a population of more than 27,000 people, and although nearly half were African American, there were only 17 Black registered voters in the entire city. If anything, the vengeance visited upon the Negro population was greater, as blacks were no longer protected by any consideration of their monetary value.. The Thibodaux Massacre Left 60 African-Americans Dead and Spelled the End of Unionized Farm Labor in the South for Decades. The Town Talk reported that 30 gas bombs were used that night by the Alexandria Police Department to quell the disturbance among the reported 3,000 African-Americans present," he said. . At the time of death, the czar was 50 years old and the empress 46. All we did, basically, in some ways, was take pictures of the ground - X-ray the ground - no intrusive, no digging or anything like that. ", William M. Simpson, former Louisiana College professor and author of "A Tale Untold? It's become known as the Lee Street Riot of 1942, but the story passed down through generations of Black Americans in the town is that it was more of a . Wynne is an amateur historian and retired law enforcement officer in Alexandria has been pushing to find those answers. . "The Army quickly cordoned off that corridor of Lee Street denying access to anything," he said. He also assisted in the research for the markers text. Three of them critically.". With the approach of the presidential elections in November, the tension only increased. They paved miles and miles of new roads, installed underground sewerage systems, and laid gas and electricity lines. Lee Street would never again be the same kind of bustling commercial corridor it had been. Colfax, founded in 1869 as the seat of Grant Parish, began life at the site of one of Louisiana's largest cotton plantations. The victims of the Texas school shooting in Uvalde - Los Angeles Times Previous photo. Some three whites and about 150 African-American fatalities occurred in the riot. Find service information, send flowers, and leave memories and thoughts in the Guestbook for your loved one. "The Army continued to insist that withall of the fighting that went on, there were no fatalities," said Simpson. The British Military Hospital, now known as Alexandra Hospital, was one of several military hospitals overwhelmed with casualties. Thousands of white men began arming themselves and raiding houses around the area. PINEVILLE, La. The History Behind Alexandra Hospital Massacre - ExplorerSG (KALB) - The Alexandria Police Department is investigating four homicides that occurred in Jan. 2021. The four-block area had been hastily cordoned off, and the military commanded Black soldiers to return to their respective bases, either Livington or Claiborne. Louisiana Lynching Victims Memorial - America's Black Holocaust Museum It was a tradition she later passed on to the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club as she got older and couldn't do it anymore. Camp Claiborne Louisiana WWII Army Camp - Alexandria Louisiana Every year on Memorial Day, the Alexandria chapter of the motorcycle club holds a memorial to remember the soldiers who died in the violent incident, saidKelvin Freeman, president of the Alexandria chapter. They were apprehended before they got anywhere, and the army ordered the units swift transfer to a camp in Texas the very next day. He was hit in the left hip but . "The overgrown back part of the cemetery and to the back left dates after 1945. Compton told Jacksonthat the state police were on rooftops and allegedly shot down on people. Erected by . Even though Republican nominee Ulysses Grant won, not a single Republican vote was counted in St. Landry Parish. "They fought back with - whatever - bricks, rocks, bottles. Lamar writes about the people, the politics, and the magic of Louisiana. Compton would lay a wreath at the site each year in remembrance of those who were killed that night. New Orleans fell to the US Army early, in April 1862. The up and the over with. Mystery of the 364th. The Alexandria, Louisiana, Lee Street Riot (January 10, 1942). Avery Hamilton told a crowd gathered for the monumentsdedication ceremony last week, in the small community about 120 miles southeast of Shreveport, Louisiana. We're now more of an enlightened people but the light of justice must always be vigilantly maintained.". The plantation was so large, in fact, that from . The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the The story of the Lee Street Riot had been passed down orally through the years since 1942. It was a loss, though, and whatever grand plans there may have once been for the area have not yet materialized. Black soldiers who were killed or injured in a tragic incident in Alexandria's history known as the Lee Street Riotwill be commemorated withabronze historical marker, said local historian Mike Wynne. Its rumored they could be in Pinevilles Holly Oak Cemetery. Camp Claiborne was situated in Rapides Parish about 18 miles south of Alexandria, off the intersection of US Highway 165 and present day La Highway 112, just north of the town of Forest Hill. Alexandria, LA 71301 (318) 483 . "But everybody, everysoldier, that died that night, is important," he said. A 2003 article in the Alexandria Town Talk, part of the USA TODAY Network, states that . It is time after nearly eight decades to find the truth of what really happened on the night of Saturday, January 10, 1942. The marker,to be erected at 819 Lee St., was on display at the State of the Community briefing held by Mayor Jeff Hall at the Randolph RiverFront Center last Friday. . Some say it was 20 while others think the number could be as high as 300. The 1868 Louisiana Massacre that Reversed Reconstruction-Era Gains Where are they buried? asks Michael Wynne. The story of the incident that unfoldedJan. 10, 1942on Lee Street begins during the World War II era. Use arrow keys to navigate. Address: 3601 Bayou Rapides Road, Alexandria, LA 71303, United States. Today, most of those soldiers and most of the civilians who witnessed the pandemonium are dead; records are missing or were destroyed. Dr. Simpson is a retired professor from Pineville who began researching the incident 25 years ago. "Maybe a GoFundMe or something like that. For the past thirteen years, every Memorial Day, members of the citys chapter of the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club, one of the largest black biker organizations in the country, place a wreath in honor of the men who lost their lives on Lee Street. For the next fewhours, fighting broke out up and down a five to six block corridor -from Lee Street to about4th and 10th Streets. On May 15, 2021, state officers, parish officials, and private citizens gathered in Colfax, Louisiana to watch local contractors remove an historical marker in front of Grant Parish Courthouse. Today, outside of Central Louisiana, what transpired that night in Alexandria, in a part of town that was called Little Harlem, has been either completely forgotten or entirely misremembered. I only know one thing and that is, whenever anybody says, Remember Pearl Harbor, I will say, I will remember Lee Street.'. March Massacre At Pepper Lounge Hosted By ALICIA LOPEZ. 254 Alexandria Louisiana Premium High Res Photos - Getty Images Of those men, 29 were taken to the local prison, and 27 of them were summarily executed. Today, Lee Street is a pastiche of empty lots and neglected buildings, with very few prospects for revitalization. Heplans to carefully diagram where every unmarked grave is located. Hell begins after you leave camp in the South to travel, a Black veteran told Elbert J. Harris in 1948. By the end of the two weeks, estimates of the number killed were around 250 people, the vast majority of them African-American. The Deadliest Massacre in Reconstruction-Era Louisiana Happened 150 I truly dont believe this is a loss, Jennings told the Town Talk. "And subsequently, other significant, different places where the bodies might have been disposed of," said Simpson. However, in recent years, the commemoration has featured a temporary sign with an incorrect date (off by two full years) and the assertion that 200 people had been killed, a number so wildly exaggerated that it undermines the credibility of scholars and journalists who have spent decades working to reveal the historical truth. Basketball legend Rivers, longtime Globetrotter, dies at 73, Public Inspection File - digicomm@kalb.com - (318) 483-4211. The entrance to the Forgotten City is marked by a road sign at the intersection of Louisiana Highways 165 and 112, sixteen miles south of Alexandria. The City of Alexandria will be placing a historic marker along Lee St. at the site of the 1941 violence. In his research, he contacteduniversities and other sources in Louisiana but was unable to get help. It was an ugly scene. "On weekends there would be upwards of 1,000 or more African-American citizens and soldiers walking on Lee Street enjoying the local businesses in a five-block area," Wynne said. Displeased with the way Bentley had portrayed the Democrats, Democrats John Williams, James R. Dickson (who later became a local judge), and constable Sebastian May visited Bentleys schoolhouse to make good on the anonymous threats of the earlier September note. (WVUE) - At a time when close to a half million troopers were training for World War II, a Louisiana town was ground zero for a riot, or massacre, that highlights the racial . Photograph of Alexandria police by Win McNamee/Getty Images. The Alexandria, Louisiana Lee Street Riot, it generated renewed (albeit temporary) local interest in the subject. "Before I even became a Buffalo Soldier, I would go to the Lee Street Riot memorial with Mrs.Compton and some other community leaders and that's where I learned about it. Please include title of story. Heart of Louisiana: Alexandrias Lee St. riot, Skull fragment found in Lake Pontchartrain identified as prehistoric indigenous remains, Jazz Fest day 2 features Ed Sheeran, The Revivalists, How family support keeps Vaucresson Sausage at Jazz Fest, Alfred Banks prepares to take the Congo Square stage with glblwrmng, Bayou Wear official outfits of Jazz Fest 2023. The U.S. Army was segregated in those days, so Black soldiers were stationed at Camp Claiborne while white soldiers were stationed at Camp Livingston and Camp Beauregard. Where they had never lived in segregation or the social etiquette that went along with how to negotiate interactions with whites. Wynne says there is rumored to be anywhere from 20 to 300 bodies. But their error pales in comparison to the governments. Library of Congress. Colfax Memorial Organization Dedicates Memorial on 150th Anniversary of Colfax Massacre. Downtown Alexandria homicide, Sunday, April 30. Privacy Statement Lee Street Riot: Experts look at rumored mass grave site at - KALB alexandria, louisiana massacre - sinfinconstruction.be Siria Arizmendi, a fifth-grade teacher at Flores Middle School in Uvalde, Texas, learned late Tuesday with her family . The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Nearly half a million men were stationed at camps near Alexandria. The team also went to Potters Field in Pineville to look at potential gravesites there. Get the latest History stories in your inbox? He collected oral histories of people who dispute the militarys account that only three soldiers were seriously injured. Donate here through ActBlue, or by sending a check to Bayou Brief at 3208 Pine Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70125. ", "Alexandria and its people have changed drastically over 80 years," said Wynne. USM Professor Organizes Formal Discussion of Rumored Mass Grave for 21 lives lost: Uvalde victims were a cross-section of a small, mostly Latino town in South Texas. "It's a combination of two factors," he explained. As a small number of African-Americans prepared to rescue Bentley, word spread around the parish that a black rebellion was imminent. But most stories are consistent with saying it initially began withaBlack soldier and a white military police officeror two MPs at The Ritz Theater, which was located near the corner of Lee and 8th Streets in downtown Alexandria. In central Louisiana, residents and guests enjoy a treasured, peaceful lifestyle. They sent Ralph Williams, an award-winning correspondent, to Central Louisiana. We need contributions from you, our readers, to ensure the Bayou Brief can continue its work. Because he had recently moved to Louisiana,he had not but the conversation spurred his interest in the subject. City Erects Marker Recognizing Lee Street Riot of 1942 12 Best Things To Do In Alexandria, Louisiana | Trip101 Im hoping and praying that we can find out the truth to this great American mystery.. Simpson never heard of thisstory involvingLee Streetuntil he was teaching a session about Central Louisiana and World War II in the mid-1980s. OPELOUSAS, LA ( WGNO) The Reconstruction Period began in 1865 the moment the Civil War ended in the United States. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. Bentley, an 18-year-old who also worked as one of the editors of the Republican paper The St. Landry Progress, was one of the few white Republicans in the Louisiana parish of St. Landry. The Alexandria, Louisiana, Lee Street Riot (January 10, 1942). The number of soldiersand possibly civilianskilled is unknown. Possibly one of the soldiers got intoxicated and the white military police who were armed tried to arrest them, but something happened.