Despite stellar performances through five previous wars, Black servicemen in

the early 1900s were hated by the South and despised and unappreciated by the

North. Southerners hated Blacks in uniform because radical Republicans in

Congress had used Black soldiers to police the South during Reconstruction and

as added humiliation after their Civil War defeat. After Reconstruction Black

soldiers were sent to the Western frontier to fight "hostile Indians" but

found the environment of White racism tremendously more hostile than the

Native Americans. Nothing more typified American racial hatred for the Black

soldier than the "Brownsville Affair".

During the summer of 1906 the first battalion of the 25th infantry regiment

was transferred from Fort Niobrara in Nebraska to Fort Brown, a post near

Brownsville, Texas at the mouth of the Rio Grande River, to protect against

Mexican revolutionaries. These 167 men had outstanding credentials for

service, loyalty, discipline, and bravery during battles fought in Cuba and

the Philippines. Six of these Black soldiers held the Medal of Honor and 13

had been awarded citations for bravery in the Spanish-American War. More than

half of the soldiers had been in uniform for more than 5 years; 25 had served

in active duty for more than 10 years; and one had accrued more that 27 years.

The citizens of Brownsville were appalled and wrote William Howard Taft, the

Secretary of War, requesting that he keep the White 26th infantry at Fort

Brown instead. The War Department refused to repeal the order and responded

to the Brownsville citizens: "The fact is that a certain amount of race

prejudice between Whites and Blacks seems to have become almost universal

throughout the country, and no matter where colored troops are sent there are

always some who make objections to their coming."

The Brownsville citizens immediately posted new signs announcing "NO NIGGERS

OR DOGS ALLOWED" on saloons, restaurants, and all public and recreational

facilities. However, since Brownsville is located near the Mexican border,

most of the town's inhabitants were low paid Mexican workers, and these

Hispanics welcomed the soldiers at their establishments. Consequently, Whites

became very concerned that the assertive Black infantrymen might inspire

Mexicans to challenge the status quo of White dominance and to resist local

Jim Crow practices. As much as the White citizens of Brownsville hated Black

soldiers, they saw an interracial alliance as an even greater threat to their

town and felt compelled to eliminate the Black military presence by whatever

means necessary.

Shortly after midnight on August 14, 1906 a group of men across the road from

Fort Brown and dressed in army uniforms began firing shots randomly into

buildings and at streetlights for about 10 minutes. The random bullets killed

a bartender, and seriously wounded a police lieutenant. Military rifle

cartridges and clips from Springfield rifles recently issued to the 25th

regiment were found at the scene. Several Brownsville citizens immediately

claimed that they saw Blacks shooting. Major Penrose said it could not have

been Black soldiers because all the battalion's soldiers were accounted for by

company commanders at the 10:00 PM curfew check and again immediately after

the shooting. The rifles were also checked and none had been recently fired.

The Major stated that anyone could wear an army uniform because old uniforms

were routinely discarded outside the fort and that ammunition and rifles were

known to have been sold to the citizens of Brownsville by the White 26th

regiment that occupied the fort before the Black soldiers. Brownsville Mayor

Fred Come organized an investigating committee of local citizens who found

witnesses who professed to have heard voices that sounded Black. Five

witnesses said they saw Black soldiers but could not identify anyone, and they

were not under oath. The committee prefaced their questions by stating: "We

know that this outrage was committed by Negro soldiers. We want any

information that will lead to a discovery of who did it." The committee did

not call a single soldier to the inquiry.

After one day of testimony the committee sent a telegram to President

Theodore Roosevelt stating: "Our women and children are terrified and our men

practically under constant alarm and watchfulness. No community can stand

this strainàwe ask you to have the troops at once removed from Fort Brown and

replaced by White soldiers." President Roosevelt ordered two investigations,

one by Major August Blocksom and a second by General Ernest Garlington, a

racist native of South Carolina. They took as evidence the testimony of White

citizens and spent military cartridges and concurred that Black soldiers had

committed the crime. They completely ignored the testimony of a civilian

employee of the fort who swore that after the shooting he had seen four

Brownsville citizens dressed in uniforms and carrying rifles. The officers

concluded that the Black soldiers' denial of the shooting was proof of

"collusion" and a "conspiracy-of-silence" and since no soldier would confess,

they recommended dismissing the entire battalion. General Garlington added:

"The secretive nature of the race, where crimes charged to members of their

color are made, is well known."

President Theodore Roosevelt delayed his decision until after his re-election

so as not to loose much needed Black support. Subsequently, on November 28,

1906, he ordered the discharge of all 167 soldiers of the first battalion

without honor, and he denied the soldiers all back pay and pension benefits.

The soldiers never received a formal trial or the benefit of legal counsel,

and this remains the only example of mass punishment without the benefit of

trial in U.S. military history. White people across the country celebrated

Roosevelt's decision. The "New Orleans Picayune" reported: "Whatever may be

the value of the Negro troops in time of war, the fact remains they are a

curse to the country in time of peace." In December 1906 during the first

congressional session after the Brownsville incident, Congressman John Garner

of Texas, whose district included Brownsville, introduced a bill that "called

for elimination of all Blacks currently in the military and barring Black

enlistment." Although his bill was defeated, he re-introduced similar bills

in each of the next three sessions. Franklin Roosevelt rewarded Garner's

racial hatred by selecting him as his vice president in 1932 and 1936.

Senator Joseph Foraker of Ohio tried to rally support without success for the

Black soldiers and even proposed a bill providing the men an opportunity to

reenlist. Foraker's defense of the Brownsville soldiers and criticism of the

White House "so infuriated Theodore Roosevelt that the President proceeded to

"hound the Senator from public life." However, 66 years later (March 1971)

Black California Congressman Augustus Hawkins introduced legislation to amend

the records of the 25th regiment to "honorable discharge". On December 6,

1972, President Nixon signed a bill authorizing a one-time pension payment of

$25,000 to Dorsie Willis (age 86) the only survivor among those discharged and

thus partially corrected one of the greatest injustices in military history.

I'm Dr. Leroy Vaughn and that's my view.