Black and Blue in North Texas: The Long Neglected History of Anti-Black Police Violence in North Texas, 1880-1930

Abstract

Recent anti-Black police violence in North Texas has been treated as an anomaly. In fact, as this article demonstrates, a long history of police brutality and wanton dereliction of duty has defined the relationship between the criminal justice system and the Black community in the area. Focusing on the period from 1880 to 1930, this work attempts to shine a much-needed spotlight on a region that is often overlooked. Newspaper articles provide the primary source material for much of the investigation, supported by interviews and secondary sources. What materializes is a clear pattern of police violence and abandonment that includes lynchings, rapes, sexual misconduct with children, murder, arson, and large-scale expulsion. A recognition of human dignity demands the history of North Texas receives appropriate scholarly attention.