Lynching of Fred Rouse

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For other people named Fred Rouse, see Fred Rouse (disambiguation).
Lynching of Fred Rouse
Part of Jim Crow Era
Map of the Lynching of Fred Rouse.jpg
Aproximate location of the hanging of Fred Rouse
DateDecember 11, 1921
LocationHung on a tree at the corner of NE 12th Street and Samuels Avenue in Fort Worth, Texas, Tarrant County, Texas
ParticipantsA white mob of 30 people storm hospital to lynch Rouse
Deaths1

33-year-old meatpacker Fred Rouse was lynched on December 11, 1921, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Background[]

In 1921, the whites-only union workers at the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in the Niles City Stockyards (now part of Fort Worth) went on strike. The owners attempted to replace them with black strikebreakers. During union protests, there was a scuffle between African-American worker Fred Rouse and some of the strikers. This resulted in Rouse firing his gun, wounding two white strikers who happened to be brothers.[1][2]

Lynching[]

Enraged, the whites seized, beat, and stabbed him. He was presumed to be dead. However, when the police retrieved his body from the mob, they realized that he was still alive. They took him to the City & County Hospital (330 E. 4th St.).[3][4] He spent several days recovering in the segregated ward, which was located in the basement. When members of the striking union heard that Rouse was still alive, a mob of about 30 men snuck into the hospital and were able to identify him by his severe skull injury. Despite the pleas of the night nurse to spare him, the mob dragged him out of the hospital in his nightgown. He was strung up on a tree at the corner of NE 12th Street and Samuels Avenue in Fort Worth, Texas. The white mob took turns riddling his mutilated body with gunshots.[4]

Aftermath[]

The union officially disavowed the lynching. Six suspected members of the lynch mob were later indicted, including 2 policemen, but they never went to trial.[5]

The Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice (TCCPJ), a nonprofit dedicated to memorializing victims of racial violence, broke ground on Saturday, December 11, 2021, for a historical marker that will stand at Rouse’s lynching site.[4]

Bibliography[]

Notes

  1. ^ Selcer 2015, p. 536.
  2. ^ Arizona Republican, December 12, 1921, p. 1.
  3. ^ Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Suarez 2021.
  5. ^ Selcer & Foster 2011, p. 287.

References[]

  • "Negro who shot strike pickets hanged by mob in Fort Worth". Arizona Republican. Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona: Republican Pub. Co. 1921. pp. 1–12. ISSN 2157-135X. OCLC 2612512. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
  • Selcer, Richard F.; Foster, Kevin S. (2011). Written in Blood: The History of Fort Worth's Fallen Lawmen. University of North Texas Press. ISBN 9781574413236. - Total pages: 440
  • Selcer, Richard F. (2015). A History of Fort Worth in Black & White: 165 Years of African-American Life. University of North Texas Press. ISBN 9781574416169. - Total pages: 598
  • Suarez, Miranda (December 6, 2021). "100 years after his death, a man lynched in Fort Worth gets his first-ever memorial". KERA-TV. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
  • Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice (2021). "Remembering Mr. Fred Rouse". Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice. Retrieved December 12, 2021.


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