User:Centehua/sandbox/Dallas Bombings

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Racial Tensions in Dallas
-insert info about segregation in Dallas-

An effigy of a Black man was hung on the corner of Myrtle and Lobdell streets. The effigy wore a sign warning Black Dallasites to stay out of the district.

On Tuesday, December 3, 1940, Dallas City Manager James W. Aston consulted with local realtors and the Dallas Real Estate Board regarding a program to create separate districts for Black and white citizens in South Dallas. The South Dallas Civic League had met the evening prior at the Silberstein School, where they approved of a map barring Black citizens from Oakland, Myrtle, and Eugene Streets.

Tensions in the 1940s
In 1940, the Dallas Housing Authority enacted a program to build 700 segregated low-rent residential units for Black residents in the area around Hall and Thomas streets, Old East Dallas. This plan was unwanted by local Black residents, and hundreds began to move out of the area both in opposition to the plan and due to forced removal from their homes.

1940 - 1941
The NAACP sent a letter in 1940 to Congressman Martin Dies asking him investigate the bombings of Black homes in Dallas and Klan activities. The letter cited on assault on Dr. George F. Porter, who was thrown headfirst down the Dallas court house steps while answering a jury summons in September, 1939. Copies of letter were also sent to President Roosevelt, members of the Dies committee, Speaker Sam Rayburn, and Henry A. Wallace. The letter declared that "These acts, rather than the action of Negroes in purchasing property pursuant to their Constitutional right and their attempt on their property, are the real un-American activities." In July, white residents on Howell street sought legal means of preventing Black residents from moving into their neighborhood, and a large delegation went before City manager James W. Aston seeking help and advice from his office. Aston informed the delegation that the city had no legal right to prevent Black families from purchasing homes in areas where white families lived, and he urged them to seek cooperation from real estate owners and agents in preventing the sale of property to Black families. An effigy of a real estate agent had been hanged in the area.

By May 17, 1941:

September 11, 1940

On the night of Wednesday, September 11, 1940, the home of C. L. Walker at 3616 Howell Street was bombed. At the time of the bombing, Walker's wife, two daughters, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephew were in the home. The bomb was likely thrown from a moving vehicle before it landed into bushes near the back window of a home, where it exploded and shattered several window panes. Patrolman Harry Stewart had been patrolling the area and heard the explosion from several blocks away. He saw two Black men exiting the house after the explosion. The men were armed with shotguns, and Stewart told them to return to the house.

September 16, 1940

The home of Earl Jones, 4000 Myrtle St., was bombed on Monday, September 16, 1940, at 10:48. The bomb explosion was heard over several miles. The bomb shattered the garage door where Jones had parked his car only ten minutes before the explosion, and shattered the window of a bedroom where a five year-old child slept. The bomb was believed to have been made of dynamite and thrown from a passing car. Jones revealed to Dallas police that his dog had been poisoned a week prior to the bombing, and that he had previously received threats.

October 1, 1940 bombing

Three unidentified white men made a bombing attempt on Tuesday, October 1, 1940. The men had planted a bomb made of six sticks of dynamite in the living room of an unoccupied house at 2618 Lobdell Street. A Black family had moved into a home next door, 2622 Lobdell St., that same morning. The bombing attempt was spotted by Clyde Surrell, who was visiting Lewis Gay at 2622 Lobdell. Surrell heard a noise outside of the house at around 9:30 p.m. and looked through a window to investigate its source. He saw the three men break into the unoccupied house through the front window, and noticed that they were carrying a bundle. he saw the flare of a match light inside the house, and called the Dallas police after the three men had fled. The first officers to reach the home were Bob Erwin and W. A. Davis. The fuse had gone out before reaching any of the detonation caps in the bundled dynamite sticks, but Erwin cut the charred portion of the fuse, likely out of caution. Further investigation by detectives V. S. smart and M. A. Shaw concluded that the bomb had been made by an amateur.

Collective anger

On October 3, 1940, a crowd of 100 white south Dallas locals, representing all genders and age groups, intimidated Black homeowners near Oakland and Exline Streets by threatening to bomb their homes if they did not move out of the area. Several unidentified men broke into the home of Earl Jones, whose home had been bombed in September, and directly warned him to leave his home. The crowd shouted at the homes of Black families, threatening to bomb the homes if they did not move out by the next day. Police officers patrolled the crowd and herded the gathering groups together, reporting via radio any new gatherings of people. The crowd made their way to Exline Park. A Black woman approached the crowd and asked to speak with a leader, claiming that she did not now the area was segregated and that her real estate agents had assured her that it was fine for her to move into the community. The crowd then began making threats against the real estate agents. At Exline Park, members of the crowd and leaders expressed their desire to remove Black homeowners from the community, citing their development of the neighborhood and desire to keep non-white families out. The Dallas police believed that Black homeowners were armed and keeping guard of their homes as the mob made their way through the neighborhood.

October 9, fire

The home of Mr. and Mrs. D. W. Ludwig, 3603 Howell Street, was burned down in the early hours of October 9, 1940. The fire was spotted at 12:45 a.m., and by the time the fire department arrived, the fire had spread over the rooftop and quickly destroyed the structure of the house and all furnishing within. Mr. Ludwig told reporters at the scene that he had received phone calls threatening that their home would be burned.

City Manager sought to alleviate the issue by moving Black families out of white neighborhoods, and reassured Dallas residents that the city was "working as fast as we can to develop a permanent program that will prevent trouble in the future..."

October 24, incendiary fire

On October 24, 1940, the home at 3615 Howell Street was burned, with the structure and furnishings within destroyed. The property was owned by Philip Manicchia, and Tommy Palermo and his family lived at the property. All residents were out of the house at the time of the fire, which was spotted around 10:00 p.m. Both the owner and residents of the house, all of whom were white, had not been involved in previous racial conflicts in the area. Firemen arriving at the scene had seen a man attempting to break into the home before fleeing the scene.

October 26, bombing

December 3, bombing

A failed bombing attempt was made on Tuesday, December 3, at the home of Dr. and Mrs. P. M. Sunday, 3731 Oakland Street. Mrs. Margaret Sunday heard the bomb as it fell on her porch at approximately 8:10 p.m.. She went out to her porch to investigate the sound the bomb had made, and found two sticks of 60% dynamite attached to a foot long fuse. An inch of the fuse was charred, but the fuse had gone out, likely as a result of the bomb being thrown. Lieutenant Louie Spencer and patrolmen Lloyd Hill and George Stepter arrived at the house and doused the bomb in a tub of water for safety. The bomb was investigated and disposed of in the Trinity River by Inspector of Detectives Will Fritz and detectives Jack Archer and George Kemp.

December 21, bombing

January 13, 1941 bombings

Two bombings occurred on Monday, January 13, 1941. The first bombing occurred at 10:00 p.m. at the home of Peter Shaw, 2815 Metropolitan avenue. At 10:24 p.m., a second bombing struck the home of Earl Jones, 4000 Myrtle Street. The sounds of the bombings reached as far as SMU campus.

The bomb used at the Shaw home on Metropolitan ave. had been thrown onto the roof of the home, and blasted a four-foot hole over kitchen.

The bomb used at the Jones home on Myrtle st. was tossed onto the porch while Mrs. Jones was on the phone speaking to a neighbor about the 10:00 bombing. Jones reported that it sounded "like a bundle of newspapers thrown on the porch". Jones investigated the noise and saw the smoking fuse, and he, his wife, and two children evacuated the house from the back door. They made their way to the side of the house where they witnessed an old model coupe pick up a man from the sidewalk and drive away. They were not able to determine the license plate number. The bomb destroyed the front porch of the house. No people were physically harmed in either of the bombings. Investigators believed that the bombs had consisted of one stick of dynamite, and were likely thrown from a vehicle.

Jones had previously filed a suit in federal court for three separate pleas, and was represented by W. J. Durham. The first plea alleged that the city had passed an invalid ordinance prohibiting individuals of certain races from living on certain streets. The second alleged that the city had acted on an invalid state statute that gave cities the right to segregate Black citizens. The final plea alleged that the city was aiding in mob violence against Black homeowners by not granting sufficient police protection. Judge Atwell presided over this hearing and denied all three pleas. Jones ultimately moved to a different undisclosed location a week after the second bombing of his home.

January 17, bombing

February 3, bombing

On Monday night, February 3, 1941, the home of Dr. and Mrs. P. M. Sunday was again targeted by bombing. At 9:00 p.m. Dr. Sunday and his wife heard the bomb as it fell onto their porch, and Dr. Sunday quickly doused the bomb with a bucket of water he kept nearby as a precautionary measure, as he had been advised by the police. The reported the bombing attempt to police two hours later. Dr. Sunday called the attackers cowardly, and told police detectives that "he is willing to fight any person responsible for the racial dispute anywhere at any time".

February 11, bombing

February 23, bombing

The home of Peter Shaw was again bombed on the night of February 23, 1941. The occupants of the home at the time of the attack were Shaw, Flora Boekman and her daughter Madeline Morris, Arthur Taylor, and Calvin Lawrence. The bomb had been thrown onto the roof and rolled

March 6, bombing

The home of Howard Malone, 2638 Hatcher Street, was bombed on Thursday evening, March 6, 1941. (next door to December 22 bomb) Mrs. Malone and Mr. and Mrs. Larry Ellis, who lived with the Malones, were at the home at the time of the bombing. They did not hear the bomb strike the house, nor had they seen anyone on the street. The bomb landed on the front porch, and blasted two doors at the front of the home leading to the front bedroom and living room inwards, and knocked boards from the ceiling down. Furniture had also been moved from the force of the damage. Following the bombing, additional police detectives were assigned to patrol the area where the bombings had occurred.

April 4, bombing

On April 4, 1941, the home of Charles Brackins, 1210 Beaumont Street, was bombed. Brackins was alone at the time and sitting on his back porch when the bomb exploded in his front yard, shattering the front windows and leaving a crater in the yard. Brackins suffered a minor heart attack from the shock of the bombing. Brackins did not live in the area that experienced bombings, but he was a wealthy political leader and influencer, and had appeared before the Dallas City Council in the summer of 1940 requesting that the police put a stop to the bombings that year. The North Dallas Home Owners and Taxpayers Protective Association met days later to discuss the bombing.

April 14, bombing

April 21, bombing

An unoccupied home at 3723 Oakland Ave. was bombed on Monday, April 21, 1941, at around 8:30 p.m. The home was Black-owned, although the owner was not living at the property at the time of the bombing. The bomb, which was believed by Detective M. A. Shaw to be made of several sticks of dynamite, had twisted the floor joists of the home, shattered windows, a side of the house and part of the rood, and left a small crater around a foot in diameter in the front yard. Nearby homes also had their windows shattered by the force of the blast. It was believed that the bomb had been thrown from a car, although nearby witnesses failed to see the vehicle.

May 8, bombing

The eighth bombing of 1941 took place at the San Jacinto village, 3401 San Jacinto Street, which was owned by George Ripley and served as a Black housing development. The bombing occurred at 10:13 p.m. The bomb exploded a few feet outside of an apartment owned by Mrs. Mary Louise Wilson. The force of the blast destroyed the surrounding picket fence, made a hole in the ground, and destroyed a wooden shed that covered gas meters for multiple apartments. Two doors were blown out and home furnishing was moved, and the front window of a house across the street was blown in, and homes belonging to white neighbors had their windows shattered. The bomb contained at least three sticks of dynamite, and it was theorized that the dynamite was from one of the WPA projects in Dallas due to recent reports of thefts. Police Chief James M. Welch noted that the bombs used in the last 13 bombings were the same type, and may warrant a federal investigation if materials from WPA projects were used in the making of said bombs. A suspect was described as a white male wearing khaki pants and a white shirt. Five Black women in south Dallas reported a man, wearing said outfit and appearing to be drunk, making threats to bomb a Black home, and Mary Wilson had seen a man matching this description just before the bombing.

On May 15, 1941, Milton Chapman, a Black man, was threatened with bombing if he moved into a Black-owned property at 2738 Hatcher Street. Five white men approached him as he was moving into the property. Chapman contacted the police, who spoke with him at the house as a crowd of onlookers gathered. He ultimately removed his furniture from the property and moved back to his former address on Jordan Street.

A city ordinance outlining sections of South Dallas as "white" or "colored" was passed in April, 1941, but was revoked by Federal Judge W. H. Atwell, who called the ordinance "insane, unfair, and un-American". City officials claimed that the ordinance was already voided before it was seen by Judge Atwell.

Lincoln School Controversy
In July, 1941, C. O. Goff, a committee leader of the South Dallas Civic League, presented a petition allegedly signed by 1,200 white citizens calling for Lincoln High School to be turned into a whites-only school. Goff warned the school board that white South Dallas citizens would "throw an armed guard about the school this fall in order to prevent its opening as a colored school". This sentiment was shared by William Reinle, a local leader for housing segregation in Dallas who led a group of locals to prevent Black homeowners from moving into their homes. He stated to the school board: "if you plan to reopen the school in the fall you had better call out the national guard." President of the Dallas School Board Dr. David W. Carter stated that the school would continue as a Black school in the Fall. He rejected a suggestion to use a bond issue of $150,000.00 which had been earmarked for a defense school to be used to build a new Black school, stating that Lincoln High School would not be suited for a defense school, nor would the bond be sufficient to cover the cost of Lincoln High School, which had cost $400,000.00 to build.

ACLU Involvement
In August, 1941, the ACLU submitted a list of 19 acts of violence against Black homeowners to federal authorities for investigation.

1950s Bombings
On Wednesday, February 22, 1950, at around 11:00 p.m., the home of Horace Boener, 2515 Southland St., was bombed. The bombing tore open one side of the homes and shattered 18 windows. The blast was felt through the entire block. 4 Black families lived on the block, and one neighbor reported that several white Dallasites threatened her by telling her "you're next".

June 2, 1950

2628 Pennsylvania

July 7, 1950

The 4th bombing struck a 5-room frame home at 2410 Marburg Street on Friday, July 7, at 9:42 p.m. The house was owned by a white couple, Mr. and Mrs. R. A. House, who had put the home up for sale in June. The home was unoccupied at the time of the bombing. Detective O. A. Jones was informed by a neighbor that two cars driven by African-Americans had viewed the home on the afternoon of July 7. Inspector Dal Loe stated that the bomb was likely made of dynamite, and that it was likely thrown into the house through a window or otherwise placed into the house. The damage was greater than the previous three bombings: a wall was torn from the house, the roof was severely damaged, and the structure of the home was damaged beyond repair. A burning mop was found within the home and believed to have been used to place the bomb, and a set of tire tracks and footprints were casted and preserved as evidence. 30 officers were pulled from regular duty to patrol the area affected by the bombings.

The local branch of the NAACP posted a $500.00 reward for the apprehension and conviction of the bombers. This reward was doubled by local Black and white citizens in May, 1950. The NAACP viewed Dallas Police as apathetic towards the bombing investigation, which was countered by Dallas Police Chief Carl Hansson, who accused the NAACP of withholding information from investigators. In August, 1950, governor Allan T. Shivers promised state cooperation in the investigation of the bombings. This was a shift from his stated policy in July when he ruled out Texas Ranger involvement in the investigations. In August, 1950, Charles O. Goff, 68, was charged for being an accomplice of arson by bombing. he was arrested by the Texas Rangers and Dallas police, and was released under a bond of $10,000.00. District Attorney Henry Wade named Goff as the mastermind behind the recent bombings in South Dallas. he was the fourth suspect charged. The others were Claude T. Wright, 42, and Arthur C. Young, 62, who were accused of planting the bombs, and James Paz Alvarez, 50, who was accused of making two of the bombs used during the bombing spree. George Leatherwood and Floyd Foster were arrested in September, 1951, after they had been charged in August. Foster was arrested at the home of his parents, and the Texas Rangers arrested Leatherwood while he was walking. The two men, who were seen as "messenger boys" for the bombing organizers, implicated more suspects during their statements to police after their arrest.

Vacant frame house was bombed in July, 1950. it was the fourth bombing of that year.

The Dallas City Council requested that the FBI and state police enter the investigation of the Dallas bombings.

chief

Five people were indicted by September, 1951. Four had already been indicted for arson: T. D. Peacock, 23; Burl Foster, 30; Elmer "Red" White, 42, and Dowell C. "Cotton" Bailey, 37. The fifth indictment was for Pete Garcia, 26, who was accused of "exploding a house".