Beaumont Texas Race Riot 1943

White workers at the Pennsylvania Shipyard in Beaumont, Texas riot after a false rumor that a Black man had raped a white woman. A mob of several thousand white men destroys Black businesses and homes in the Black neighborhood. Two people are killed, dozens injured, and over 200 arrested — the majority Black. Martial law is declared. The riot exemplifies how wartime racial tensions and false rape accusations were used to terrorize Black communities.