(WBAP/KLIF) — It’s been 104 years since a mob of black soldiers gunned down 15 white residents in Houston. Now, a group of attorneys and advocates are seeking clemency for the 110 black soldiers who were convicted in the mutiny and riots in 1917.
The South Texas College of Law-Houston and the NAACP have signed an agreement pledging to continue fighting for clemency for the all-black Third Battalion of the U.S. Army’s 24th Infantry Regiment.
The incident occurred in 1917 when 110 soldiers of the all-black battalion retaliated for racial mistreatment and beatings by members of the Houston police department. The soldiers marched into town armed with rifles and shot and killed 9 civilians, 2 soldiers, and 4 police officers.
The group plans to ask the secretary of the army to posthumously grant honorable discharges and urge pardons from President Joe Biden. The Houston chronicle reports that the soldiers were either executed or given long prison sentences.
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