Events

Mutiny of Rage: The 1917 Camp Logan Riots and Buffalo Soldiers in Houston

Oct 5 | 6:30 PM-8:00 PM

Our Latinx Heritage Month Lecture Series begins with a program featuring Jaime Salazar author of Mutiny of Rage: The 1917 Camp Logan Riots and Buffalo Soldiers in Houston.

Salado Creek, Texas, 1918: Thirteen black men stood at attention in front of gallows erected specifically for their hanging. They had been convicted of participating in one of America’s most infamous black uprisings, the Camp Logan Mutiny, otherwise known as the 1917 Houston Riots. The mutiny and ensuing riots were carried out by 156 soldiers of the Third Battalion of the all-black 24th US Infantry Regiment-a unit of the famed Buffalo Soldiers -after members of the Houston Police Department violently menaced the black soldiers and members of the local black community. It all took place over a single night.

After a rumor that a corporal had been shot and killed by the police reached Camp Logan, soldiers immediately made plans to march on Houston and attack the police force. The first police casualties occurred when a group of six officers stumbled upon the entire column of soldiers.

After discovering that one of the men they killed was a captain with the Illinois National guard, the seriousness of the mutiny hit home. Houston was placed under martial law, and by morning all of the soldiers were eventually disarmed or surrendered their weapons. In the wake of those riots, eleven civilians, five policemen, and four soldiers lay dead. This incident is one of Houston’s most complicated and often-misrepresented historical events. It shook race relations in the city and created conditions that sparked a nationwide surge of wartime racial activism. In the aftermath of the carnage, what was considered the trial of the century at that time ensued. The trial resulted in the hanging of thirteen black men, eliciting memories of slave rebellions. But was justice served? New evidence and access to historical archives indicate that the courts-martial were rushed in an attempt to placate an angered white population as well as military brass. Mutiny of Rage serves to not only retell an accurate story of the event, but to set the legal record straight on what really happened.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jaime Salazar has been working as an engineer in the oil and gas sector for nearly two decades. He recently attained a juris doctorate and plans to practice patent law in Texas. In 2005, he published the hardcover edition of Legion of the Lost, which chronicles his swashbuckling experience serving in the French Foreign Legion. Salazar is working on his second book and lives with his 9-year-old daughter in Houston. He enjoys traveling internationally, practicing mixed martial arts, and running the occasional marathon. He splits his time practicing law and writing. 

FREE and Open to the Public

Registration Coming Soon!

“Betraying the Cause: The Langston School and Black Educational Self-Determination”

Oct 12 | 6:30 PM-8:00 PM

Join us for the first Latinx Heritage Month lecture series at Buffalo Soldiers National Museum.

Our lecture featuring Dr. Jesus Esparza explores a segregated African American school in the San Felipe Independent School District (SFISD) of Del Rio, Texas. Called Langston Elementary, this segregated school was no different from the countless other schools for African Americans across the state. What makes this school unique, however, is that it was part of an independent school district completely controlled by Mexican Americans. Founded in 1929, SFISD was the first and perhaps only education unit established and maintained by Latinos in Texas. But because the district also operated a segregated school system; consequently tensions between Black and Latino students, parents, and school leaders emerged and permeated throughout the community.

While this talk concentrates mainly on the segregation of Black school-aged children, it also focuses on the early settlement patterns of Del Rio’s Black population, their early school developments, and the establishment of social clubs, political organizations, and religious institutions. This lecture contends that those who maintained Langston Elementary experienced a degree of educational autonomy. Despite the segregation, neglect, and limited resources, the Black community successfully maintained their school and determined student achievement. Integration, in many ways, disrupted that sense of autonomy. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Jesús Jesse Esparza is an Associate Professor of History in the College of Liberal Arts and Behavioral Sciences at Texas Southern University, where he has taught since 2009. His area of expertise is on the history of Latinos in the United States, emphasizing civil rights activism. Dr. Esparza’s manuscript, Raza Schools: The Fight for Latino Educational Autonomy in a West Texas Borderlands Town, is scheduled for release in September 2023. The University of Oklahoma Press will publish it as part of the New Directions in Tejano History series. Dr. Esparza teaches Mexican American, Texas, and Civil Rights history. He received his B.A. and a master’s degree in History from Southwest Texas State University and a Ph.D. in History in 2008 from the University of Houston.

FREE and Open to the Public

REGISTER