Chaos erupted on this date in Beaumont, TX during what would become known as Black Tuesday.
In El Paso, home to Fort Bliss where anti-aircraft units trained, Black civilians, veterans, and servicemembers came together to celebrate Juneteenth with a day packed full of activities. As printed in the June 5, 1943 edition of The Pittsburgh Courier, Col. Louis A. Carter, Post 502 of the Colored World War Veterans of El Paso, placed an announcement of their festivities: a marathon, a picnic and a baseball game.
The El Paso Juneteenth celebration commenced with their then 9th annual El Paso’s Emancipation Marathon, which was open to any interested athlete. In order to demonstrate their support of the war effort, the top three runners received War Bond prizes in the amount of $100 for 1st place, $50 for 2nd place, and $25 for 3rd place. Following the marathon, participants were encouraged to head over to their local community center for picnicking, which historically has been a popular activity for the Black community to celebrate Juneteenth. For the closing event to El Paso’s Juneteenth festivities, they held an Emancipation baseball game. Before 1943, the best of El Paso’s Black baseball players competed against Black CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) workers. However, in 1943, they decided to shake things up and compete against Black servicemembers who were stationed at nearby Fort Bliss.
On June 15, 1943, what eventually would become known as Black Tuesday, is when chaos erupted in Beaumont, a city that was experiencing an economic boom during World War II due to the shift to wartime production at its shipyard. Two days of rioting began after a story of “a white woman, the mother of three children, [had] been attacked by a young Negro shipyard worker” spread like wildfire throughout the town with accusations of rape. Adding to the racial tension was the fact that a Ku Klux Klan convention had been scheduled to coincide with local Juneteenth celebrations.