Video from CBS Sunday Morning
U.S. Army Corrects Miscarriage of Justice in Jim Crow-Era Texas
"In 1917, at an Army training camp in Houston where members of the all-Black 24th Infantry Regiment were stationed, a series of run-ins with white police and a false rumor that Black soldiers were about to be attacked set off a race riot. One-hundred-and-ten soldiers, all Black, were convicted; 19 were sentenced to death and hanged. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin talks with families of the executed men, and with Army officials about its decision, more than a century later, to reverse all convictions and restore honor to the Black soldiers who suffered a miscarriage of justice." from video introduction
Army Overturns Convictions of 110 Black Soldiers Charged in 1917 Riot
"The Army acknowledged that the Buffalo Soldiers, 19 of whom were hanged, had been convicted in military trials that were tainted by racial discrimination.
On Dec. 11, 1917, Pfc. Thomas C. Hawkins and 12 other Black soldiers who had been convicted of mutiny and other crimes during a riot in Houston earlier that year were hanged. It was the single largest mass execution of American soldiers by the Army.
On Monday, more than a century later, the Army said it had formally overturned their convictions and those of 97 other Black soldiers who were found guilty of crimes associated with the riot. The Army acknowledged that the 110 soldiers, 19 of whom were executed, had been convicted in military trials that were tainted by racial discrimination.
The soldiers were members of the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, an all-Black unit known as the Buffalo Soldiers. The Army said their records would be corrected, to the extent possible, to characterize their military service as “honorable.” They will be given proper gravestones acknowledging their Army service, and their descendants will be made eligible for benefits, officials said..." from the article: Army Overturns Convictions of 110 Black Soldiers Charged in 1917 Riot