Following acts of violence against people and property in the Black community, white mobs quickly moved towards other targets. It is important to note that this area was a predominately Black community, meaning white rioters knew their destructive outbursts would significantly affect the livelihood of many African Americans residing in Longview. The white mob burned multiple homes and public spaces lining this street, including the dance hall that was located at the corner of Potter and Harrison. The white men involved assumed the dance hall housed a large amount of ammunition, making it a top priority to burn down in an attempt to disarm Black rioters. However, the dance hall was not an arsenal but rather a structure of mortar and wood that represented a place of entertainment and refuge. Like many of the homes and Black-owned businesses in this part of the city, the dance floor was burned and the mob continued onward.

There is no known photo of the Longview dance hall. This image shows African Americans dancing at a dance hall in New Jersey 1942

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What once stood as a neighborhood dance hall is now a single-family home at the Harrison and Potter street corner. This dance hall was a well-known spot in the Black community that was engulfed in flames during the Longview Race Riot of 1919. At that time, the dance hall that was located here provided a place of entertainment as well as a place for members of the Black community to come together in safety away from whites. However, during the Longview Race Riot, members of a white mob burned this dance hall down after wrongly assuming it housed a large amount of ammunition that the Black community might use against them. 

The Neighborhood Dance Hall (1919)

This digital story map offers a way to explore the Longview Race Riot of 1919, an incident that began in the aftermath of a lynching and resulted in the destruction of several black homes and businesses. Starting at the home of Samuel L. Jones, the man who was a voice in the Longview African American community, the story map explores some of the places and events that were part of the Longview Race Riot. Although far less deadly and destructive than most of the over two-dozen race riots that gripped American cities in 1919, the riot led to martial law and the death of Marion Bush, an African American farmer. 

Longview Race Riot of 1919 

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Samuel L. Jones was a reporter and teacher in Longview who spoke on behalf of the African American community. A mid-sized East Texas city with 81,600 residents today, Longview at that time was home to a mere 5,700 citizens. Of these citizens, roughly 1/3 were Black and tensions were high during the Red Summer of 1919. Racial tensions were high throughout the country as a result of a number of factors, and in Texas, many white residents resented the growing economic progress of African Americans and the status of Black veterans. Early July 1919, Jones decided to publish investigate and publish an article on the death of Lemuel Walters. Jones's article reported that Walters followed his heart, straight to the arms of a Southern white woman. Their mutually-consensual romance came to a tragic end, Jones reported, when Walters was whipped and wrongly accused of harassment by his lover's two brothers. Interracial relationships were taboo, and most white Texans saw violence against Black men who attempted to have romantic relationships across the color line as justified. As a result of public condemnation of his romance, Walters was taken to a jail cell at the Gregg County Courthouse and charged with burglary and harassment. On June 17, 1919, Walters died after a police officer released him to a white mob. Members of the mob murdered Walters as a means of enforcing the color line and sending a message of racialized terror that led to thousands of other lynchings. Jones's article sought to provide a clear perspective on what led up to the lynching, stating that Walters and the married woman were in love and planned to marry upon her divorce. Jones also noted that Walters was a guest in the home he was accused of burglarizing, making it clear that the alleged crime demonstrated that the police and white community were fabricating false charges against the victim. This perspective on Walters personal and consensual relationship with a white woman unmasked the role of law enforcement in perpetuating lynching, and as a result, led to demands by police and white citizens for action against Jones.  The woman involved had previously been anonymous. The publication of Jones’ article enraged her family and led whites in the community and family members to demand vengeance to defend the honor of the woman who Jones had identified. The same family members who killed Walters came after Jones, where they attacked him for spreading the news about Walters' death and his relationship with their sister. Jones’s home plays a crucial part in the beginning stages of the Longview Race Riots as the response of white Longview residents against Jones spurred violence.   After news spread that Jones had published an article calling into question the motives of those who had murdered Walters, a group of white men went to Jones' home to demonstrate their anger. Unbeknownst to them, a group of Black men assumed Jones' home would come under attack and were waiting for their arrival. Upon arriving, the white men were met with bullets. Once a larger portion of the white mob got wind of the Black community retaliation, tensions rose to an all-time high. The remaining mob members took to Harrison Street, where they set Jones' house on fire and continued their destructive rampage. The home that stands at this location was built after the mob destroyed the Jones home.

This digital story map of the Longview Race Riot begins at the location of Samuel L. Jones's home prior to its destruction by a white mob. Jones was a leader in the Black community who authored articles that were published by the Chicago Defender, one of the leading African American newspapers of the early 20th century. Jones was a reporter and a teacher who resided in this small, quaint town of Longview, Texas, in the summer of 1919. Jones played a significant part in the 1919 Longview Race Riot after an article he submitted to the Chicago Defender cume under scrutiny after he revealed the relationship between Lemuel Walters, a Black man who was lynched a month before the riot, and an unknown white woman from Kilgore, Texas. 

The Home of Samuel L. Jones (1919)

Dr. Davis found his house set ablaze after coming to his friend Jones’ aid upon hearing the news of his beating. The destruction of Dr. Davis's family home represents an important aspect of the event that is often labeled a race riot as it reveals the latent hatred of many white residents at this time and their willingness to commit violence. Dr. Davis was a leader in the Black community of Longview who valued Jones and his work. Months earlier, he and Jones attempted to convince Black farmers to sell their cotton directly to buyers in Galveston rather than white cotton brokers. The white community was outraged that Davis and Jones dared to encourage Black men to prosper financially, so much so that many believe this event paved the way for the Longview Race Riot months before Jones’ article was published.  Dr. Davis not only lost his home during the riots, but also his father-in-law. Marion Bush was gunned down by white assassins the day following the destruction of Davis' home.

This was the home of Dr. Calvin P. Davis prior to the Longview Race Riot of 1919. A Black physician in town, Dr. Davis was a respected man in his community but like many others, his home was destroyed by the mob. Dr. Davis aided Samuel L. Jones in the aftermath of the riot. 

The Home of Dr. Calvin P. Davis (1919)

After the mob faced bullets and retaliation from those protecting Jones’ home, many white men felt the situation they created had escalated out of their control. According to newspaper accounts of the race riot, these men gathered at the fire station and rand the alarms for all to hear in hopes of recruiting more men to join them. When men heard the alarms, they rallied to the station and quickly accepted all they had been told by the men who started the violence and then joined them in attacking members of the Black community and anyone or anything associated with Jones.

The Longview Fire Department’s central location in the city made it an essential location for the white mob during July 1919. This location became a place where the white mob gathered and attracted more members during the Longview Race Riot. While the building has been renovated, the fire department still stands in its original 1919 location. 

Longview Fire Station During the Longview Race Riot of 1919

The attack on Jones occurred in a public location on July 10, 1919. This initial attack was followed up by the attack on Jones's home and after it was set ablaze along with other African American homes and businesses, a domino effect erupted in general violence and the event known as the Longview Race Riot. While our tour's previous locations encompassed places and spaces in the Black community, this would have been a high traffic area for both white and Black citizens. As a result, the significance of the location Jones where Jones was assaulted and injured is significant because it is a place where he and other Black residents should have felt safe.  Following the attack, Jones did not seek or receive protection or help from the police but he did appeal to the mayor and was advised to leave town instead of being protected. In response, community leaders like Dr. Calvin Davis assisted Jones and other members of the local Black community gathered at his home to try to protect it and his family.

Just away from the Gregg County Courthouse, this was the location where Samuel L Jones was attacked by the two brothers of the woman lynching victim Lemuel Walters had been dating. Although Jones denied any connection to the article that exposed the romance and the false charges against the late Walters, the two brothers of Walters' lover used violence to seek their revenge on Jones as they believed he was the one who revealed the facts about their sister's relationship and its connection to the lynching of Walters. The Longview Race Riot commenced shortly following the attack on Samuel Jones as a white mob gathered and went to Jones's home. In the weeks leading up to the violence, Black leaders had led a movement that inspired many Black farmers to sell their cotton directly to brokers in Galveston instead of through local white merchants in Longview. 

Location of Attack on Samuel L. Jones 

For multiple days in a row, armed white mobs roamed the streets of Longview. Compared to other events collectively known as race riots in 1919, there was relatively little physical violence against property and persons following the initial destruction of the homes of several members of the Black community. Many African Americans urged government officials to intervene and come to their aid, and some Black veterans were well-trained and armed, including a group that kept a white mob from burning down one home at least until that mob returned later in the evening with reinforcements. While both white and Black citizens were injured or negatively affected by the riots, it was the Black community whose neighborhood and leaders were facing ruin. The death of Marion Bush, a local farmer, led local officials to contact Texas Governor William P. Hobby for assistance. Governor Hobby sent multiple soldiers and Texas Rangers to Longview and declared martial law in Gregg County on July 13, 1919. General Robert H. McDill split the city into two and installed a city-wide curfew. McDill also ordered every citizen of Longview and Kilgore to surrender their weapons at the courthouse or risk their homes being searched and fined for any weapons not turned in. As many know, Texans love their guns, and the courthouse received 5-7,000 guns upon McDill's order. McDill created a committee of local citizens that sought to restore "peace" to Longview. The committee came out and shared their disapproval on Jones' article, as well as the Black armed defense that took place at his home upon the white mob's arrival. The committee objected to the burning and destruction that occurred on Harrison Street and in the Black community. The Texas Rangers arrested the men involved in the attack on Jones, his home, and those who participated in arson. The arrests consisted of both white and Black men. The Black men were sent out of town to await their hearings due to the fear that more lynchings and rioting would occur otherwise. As the citizens' anger began to fade, Governor Hobby ended martial law on July 18, 1919. Citizens came back into possession of their weapons, and many attempted to restore a sense of harmony between all races. In the end, none of the Black or white rioters were tried for their offenses. On the one hand, this can be viewed as a positive move on the city's part. The chances of the white rioters being acquitted and the Black rioters imprisoned would have been high and possibly lead to even worse riots. On the other hand, justice was lost when it came to the lives of Lemuel Walters and Marion Bush, as well as the property and livelihood of those close with Dr. Davis and Jones. Dr. Davis and Jones left Texas, and many of the Black citizens acquitted were told not to return to Longview in order to keep law and order.

On July 13, Governor William Hobby responded to the violence in Longview by declaring martial law and sending soldiers and Texas Rangers to the city. Troops and Rangers used the Gregg County Courthouse as their headquarters over the next five days and all citizens were required to surrender weapons. Dozens of white and Black residents were arrested but none were convicted. While white subjects were able to remain at their homes, Black arrestees were transferred to Austin where they were detained pending their release. The courthouse has since undergone renovations but remains in the same location. During the civil unrest of the Longview Race Riot, the courthouse was the National Guard Post. 

National Guard Post During the Longview Race Riot

Surrounded by public places citizens of a 1919 Longview would have frequented, their memories and lives are reflected up and down the street. The shops and restaurants may have new storefronts or names; however, the character and architecture remain intact. The Longview Race Riot took place over a hundred years ago. The importance and collective memory of what occurred during the summer of 1919 cannot be forgotten. In his book Anti-Black Violence in Twentieth-Century Texas, Bruce A. Glasrud writes, “We must not forget our history, and we must not turn a blind eye to how that history persists and continues to echo in parts of our population. It is important to recognize that all race relations—in Texas, in the South, and in the United States—are colored by not only the fact and the history of white-on-Black violence, but also by the differential awareness of it.”  Surrounded by the Longview downtown landscape and culture, one should enjoy the rich heritage of a city and its local businesses and museums. Preservation of historic buildings and artifacts can include a celebration of the pas and this can be a significant part of the investigation of minority communities and the composite. At the same time, the hope is that this digital story map provides awareness of a historic event that briefly tore apart a city and caused destruction. The hope is that this knowledge of the past may provide perspective and a desire to ensure the next century learns from the failures that comes from a careful study of the past.

While this marker is not directly connected to the Longview Race Riot, it serves as a reminder of the past century which includes both tragic events and the story of Longview's historic downtown area. This marker was provided by One Hundred Acres of Heritage, Inc, which is a volunteer organization that strives to promote and preserve the downtown historic district of Longview. The emphasis of this group is to preserve historic buildings and architecture, which is one aspect of history that deserves to be remembered. At the same time, celebratory investigations of a city's past can and should exist alongside investigations of important and difficult histories such as the events of the Longview Race Riot. 

Longview Race Riot of 1919

The Neighborhood Dance Hall (1919)

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