By: Rene Childress

Our current journey returns us to the beginnings of the Twentieth Century. We find ourselves observing the Hamlet of Slocum, Texas.  This sleepy little community of the descendants of former slaves that have coalesced into a cultural and economic entity where several of these former slaves have become property owners and shopkeepers. 

They stay to themselves because to do otherwise is to expose themselves to the white terrorists that are running amok through the countryside. Several of these Slocum inhabitants have been prospering unmolested for about a twenty year period. The enclave is predominantly African-American. 

This community will find itself engulfed in a maelstrom of racist murder and rape.

The backstory to our current look back is that the area surrounding Slocum has been a hotbed of racial violence against blacks. Our current episode begins on July 29,1910. The previous six months leading up to this date were freighted with “executions of African-Americans by white mobs on allegations with no trials or due process. 

Everyone was on edge because any black person could be next. 

It is a hot summer muggy morning. Two men square off regarding a debt. One is a white farmer named Reddin  Alvord. The other gentleman is an African-american named Marsh Holley, a local black businessman. 

Mr Alvord was supposedly attempting to collect a debt. They have a disagreement about the debt and repayment arrangements. Mr.  Holley disagrees about the arrangement that Mr. Alvord was suing for. An argument ensues.

Mr Alvord decided that this uppity “Nigger “ needed to be taught a lesson. He shot and killed Mr. Holley. Once Mr. Alvord realized what he had done he returned to his side of town and began complaining that the “Niggers” are riled up and are planning to attack any whites in revenge for his killing of Mr Holley. 

A mob begins to stir. White riders are sent to the surrounding white towns in Anderson and Houston counties to fuel the already growing racial maelstrom.  As this orgy of bloodlust continues to build we meet another actor in this unfolding drama. 

His name is Jim Spurger. He was said to be a prominent white citizen around the adjacent white communities surrounding Slocum. Before the events of July 29, 1910, he had been agitating against the fact that the local road construction company building new roads had decided to hire an African-American to recruit workers for the coming roadwork. He believed that this was a job best awarded to a white man. 

He saw his chance to correct this power imbalance by whipping up his fellow citizens into a murderous frenzy. 

What finally transpires is the wholesale rape and murder of the inhabitants of Slocum. People's homes were burned. Men, women and children were gunned down with the relish and joviality of a carnival. 

These people were chased into the woods and hunted like game.  Many families were found slaughtered strewn among the wilds with their belongings. They were shot and left to be carrion for the buzzards and wild things. 

The numbers of people killed vary because the white press tried to whitewash the deeds of those terrible two days of carnage, officially claiming the death toll somewhere between eight and twenty-two were murdered. The real death toll was more than two hundred. 

The real story of the days’ events is best told by Sheriff Black while addressing the press On July 31,1910 when he said it would be “difficult to find out how many were killed” because they had been “scattered all over the woods”. He further told the New York Times “Men were going about killing Negroes as fast as they could find them” He further stated “These Negroes have done no wrong that I can discover”. 

In the days and months following these awful events there was a sham trial where seven indictments were summarily dismissed. 

In the aftermath of this carnage these former slaves were scattered to the fore winds never to return. Slocum went from being a majority black hamlet to today where the black population is only 7%.  Their properties were stolen. They have never been compensated for their losses. 

This yet another example of black people being robbed and deprived of generational wealth that comes with property ownership. This loss of property coincided with several of Slocum’s white residents mysteriously increasing their personal property ownership. 

We must continue to address these outrages. There is a direct through line to where we find the status of African-Americans rooted in how we can correct and compensate and advance this experiment called the United States. We have continually been denied the tools needed to create and maintain generational health and wealth.

“ Let us Not Forget”