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The Lee Street Massacre, also known as the Alexandria Race Riot, was a ___________ that took place in January __________ 1942, in Alexandria, Louisiana during World War II.

It involved a group of African-American soldiers from nearby Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, who were on leave and had gone to a local bar to socialize. At least three African American troops from Camp Claiborne were brutally murdered during the incident, which resulted in a race riot that claimed the lives of several people, both black and white.

The shooting resulted in the deaths of at least three black soldiers and the injury of several others.

Camp Claiborne

Camp Claiborne, named after the first Governor of Louisiana, William C.C. Claiborne, was a U.S. Army military camp in Rapides Parish, central Louisiana, between the 1930s and 1946. The camp, which spanned 23,000 acres (93 km2), was under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Eighth Service Command, and was located close to near the intersection of U.S. Highway 165 and Louisiana Highway 112, just north of Forest Hill, situated within Kisatchie National Forest, a forest given to the Department of War to create three new camps for the army: Claiborne, Livingston, and Fort Polk.

Construction on Camp Claiborne, began in late 1939 when workers built hundreds of wooden buildings and thousands of tents at Camp Claiborne, so that this quiet part of the state soon became a boom town as men and their families flooded the area in search of work. The finished camp boasted service clubs, shops, beauty shop, a guest house for visiting family, and a large recreation building.

Among the soldiers who were trained at the camp were African American soldiers who were part of the segregated United States Army.

The camp also had a railroad between Camp Claiborne and Fort Polk, which was constructed by the 91st and 93rd Engineer General Service Regiments, two regiments primarily comprised of African American personnel. Stationed at Camp Claiborne was also one of General George S. Patton’s 761st tank battalion, a predominately African American tank battalion known as the "Black Panthers".

These soldiers who trained at Camp Claiborne were part of segregated units, known as "colored units," that were created by the U.S. Army. These units faced discrimination and racism both within and outside the military, and they were not given the same resources or opportunities as their white counterparts, and they were often relegated to non-combat roles. While President Roosevelt had promised Black GIs would be assigned throughout the ranks, eight out of 10 were outfitted with a pick and a shovel, not a rifle, and relegated to tasks such as building roads and digging ditches, says Bristol. In Arizona, the governor requested they pick cotton.

From 1946, after the war was over, the army had no further use for Camp Claiborne. The once vibrant camp, where a dance was held nearly every weekend, and baseball teams practiced in the summer heat, fell quiet. By the next year, the camp was dismantled and sold for scrap as cattle grazed through the former training grounds.

Today, Camp Claiborne is no longer an active military installation. The land was returned to Kisatchie National Forest, and little remains of the camp today. There is a marker to the former entrance, and signs illustrating where camp buildings stood dot the trails and roads throughout the forest.

Lee Street "Little Harlem"

Lee Street in Alexandria, named in honor of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, was the center of a thriving African-American community during the early 1940s, and was known to African-American soldiers from the North as "Little Harlem. Alexandria itself was one of many segregated cities in the 1940s.

For many African-American soldiers stationed at local military "Little Harlems" businesses, two churches, eight eating establishments, three funeral homes, five grocery stores, eight entertainment venues, a pharmacy, a bus line, a sporting arena, an Army YMCA-USO building , was a popular destination for soldiers, while on leave on “Liberty Weekends,” when thousands of soldiers would receive permits and buy bus passes into town.

During these weekends there would be upwards of 1,000 or more African-American citizens and soldiers walking on Lee Street enjoying the local businesses in a five-block area, according to local historian Mike Wynne. Businesses that included six cafes and two grills, a drugstore with a soda shop, four pubs and bars, four grocery stores and a fruit store, three liquor stores, a bus station, a coffee shop, a boxing arena and a movie theater called "The Ritz".

Incident

The spark that ignited the violence was a little incident that escalated into one of the largest race riots Louisiana had seen. On a Saturday night of January 10, 1942, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and a year into American entry into World War II, Black soldiers from Camp Claiborne in central Louisiana went to the town of Alexandria on Saturday January 10, 1942, for some R&R. By most accounts, between 2,000 and 3,000 people, the overwhelming majority of whom were African American, had been present that night on Lee Street.

Most of the soldiers were from the North, where, according to University of Souther Mississippi history Professor, Dr. Dough Brittol, "they had never lived in segregation or the social etiquette that went along with how to negotiate interactions with whites".

In front of the Ritz movie theater on that night, a Black soldier, who was later identified as Private William Walker, supposedly stepped in front of a car driven by a white woman. The soldier allegedly refused to move out of the way, prompting the woman to honk her horn and calling police for help.

A white Military Police officer arrived and immediately started to arrest the Private and other soldiers that had come out with him that night, and soon he was surrounded by an angry crowd.

Authorities sent in a hodgepodge of civilian, military, and state police as reinforcements to control the escalating situation. At least one MP opened fire, and very soon police were shooting blindly into the crowd to disperse around 2,000 African-Americans. For nearly two hours, 90 White officers were called to respond, and according to witnesses, including a handful of local police and state troopers, some of those 90 men attempted to quell the unrest by shooting indiscriminately at Black soldiers and civilians- men, women, and teenage children.

The violent clashes continued for several days, until the National Guard was called in to restore order, and martial law was declared.

In the aftermath of the riot, several African American soldiers and citizens were arrested and charged with various crimes. None of the white men involved in the Lee Street Massacre were ever brought to justice.

Death toll

At first the US military claimed that no one died that night. The Inspector General’s Office of the War Department wrote in an internal report that year: “No fatalities, however, resulted.”

The Town Talk reported the official line: Zero deaths, 28 injured, including a White state trooper who “suffered a badly injured hand in wielding a flashlight over the head of a negro.”

Civilian witnesses, however, have put the number of Black GIs killed by authorities at around 20, and up to 300 civilians who were killed or wounded.

Even today the War Department's official report, as well as the official inscription on the “Lee Street Riot of 1942” street marker, indicate that not a single person was killed, and only three African-American soldiers "were critically wounded" and 29 others required medical treatment as a result of the massacre, according to the “Historical Marker Database”.

“It’s a case study that reveals a bigger problem,” says Douglas Bristol, an associate professor of history at the University of Southern Mississippi who has written about the incident. “The military’s unwillingness, until the middle of the war, to really commit to protecting the bodily safety of Black soldiers.”

Suspected mass grave

While the exact number of casualties is still unknown, it is believed that as many as 20 to 25 individuals lost their lives during the riot.

Since the massacre, there have been efforts to uncover the truth about what happened and to provide closure for the families of those who were killed. One of the most notable efforts has been the search for a suspected mass grave believed to contain the bodies of some of the victims.

Following the publishing of his book "A Tale Untold? The Alexandria, Louisiana, Lee Street Riot", local historian and former Louisiana College professor Dr. William M. Simpson received a detailed anonymous letter with the location of a mass grave at the Holy Oak Cemetry, in November 2020, excavation has been been ongoing, but also hampered by financial lack of funding.

Another historian Associate Professor of geography at the University of Southern Mississippi Dr. David Holt, was a bit more careful in his assessment. “We’re definitely finding some evidence of lots of unmarked graves here,” says Dr. Holt, “But as far as a mass grave, at this point, I haven’t seen compelling evidence,” says Dr. Holt.

Legacy

The 1942 Lee Street Massacre was a tragic event that highlighted the racism and discrimination faced by African Americans during World War II. It also showed the tensions that could arise when soldiers from different backgrounds were brought together in the military.

The incident that sparked the Lee Street Massacre highlights the deep-seated racial tensions that existed in the United States during World War II.

The Lee Street massacre led to changes in military policy regarding the treatment of African American soldiers. In the years following the massacre, efforts were made to address the inequalities faced by African American soldiers in the military. The desegregation of the armed forces did not happen until several years later, but the events of the Lee Street Massacre played a role in bringing attention to the issue.

In 1998, a bronze plaqued historical marker was placed at 819 Lee St., in Downtown Alexandria to commemorate the three soldiers who lost their lives during the Lee Street Massacre. The marker serves as a reminder of the importance of tolerance, acceptance, and equality for all people.

Every year on Memorial Day, the Alexandria chapter of the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club holds a memorial to remember the soldiers who died in the Lee Street Riot.

See also

• Tulsa race massacre
• Greensboro massacre
• Rosewood massacre
• Red Summer
• Ocoee massacre
• Elaine massacre
• Wilmington insurrection of 1898
• Colfax massacre
• St. Bernard Parish massacre
• Opelousas massacre
• Eutaw massacre
• Chinese massacre
• Meridian race riot of 1871
• Coushatta massacre
• Ellenton riot
• Detroit race riot of 1863
• New Orleans massacre of 1866
• Camilla massacre
• Slocum massacre
• Hamburg Massacre
• Thibodaux Massacre
• Orangeburg massacre
• Long Hot Summer of 1967
• Jackson State killings
• Charleston church shooting