NAACP Defends Soldiers of the 24th Infantry
Provoked by police brutality, on August 23, 1917, members of the all-black 24th Infantry rioted in Houston, Texas. Sixteen white civilians and four black soldiers were killed. One hundred and eighteen men were court-martialed, and after the trials, nineteen were hanged and eighty-one jailed in Leavenworth, Kansas. The NAACP began a long campaign to win clemency for the imprisoned soldiers. On February 7, 1924, a NAACP delegation led by James Weldon Johnson presented to President Calvin Coolidge a petition of 125,000 signatures asking pardon for the fifty-four men still in prison. As a result, all of the sentences were reduced and twenty men were freed. President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the release of the last prisoners in 1938.
Provoked by police brutality, on August 23, 1917, members of the all-black 24th Infantry rioted in Houston, Texas. Sixteen white civilians and four black soldiers were killed. One hundred and eighteen men were court-martialed, and after the trials, nineteen were hanged and eighty-one jailed in Leavenworth, Kansas. The NAACP began a long campaign to win clemency for the imprisoned soldiers. On February 7, 1924, a NAACP delegation led by James Weldon Johnson presented to President Calvin Coolidge a petition of 125,000 signatures asking pardon for the fifty-four men still in prison. As a result, all of the sentences were reduced and twenty men were freed. President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the release of the last prisoners in 1938.