On this day, August 23, in 1917

Only one month after the US Army ordered an all-black unit of the 24th Infantry into Houston, Texas, a brutal race riot broke out. Racial tension was unavoidable as the black soldiers entered the deeply segregated city where police harassment toward blacks was rampant. When the black soldiers, who were already on their guard, heard rumors of an unprovoked police attack on a fellow soldier, their anger exploded into violence. Many of the soldiers armed themselves and marched into town seeking revenge. Due to the resulting deaths of 15 whites, 19 black soldiers were hanged and 63 received life sentences. Two white officers faced courts-martial but were released, and no white citizens were ever even brought to trial.