Roosevelt Dishonorably Discharges 167 Black Soldiers on Fabricated Charges

President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the dishonorable discharge of all 167 Black soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 25th Infantry Regiment without trial, after a shooting incident in Brownsville, Texas in which one white man was killed and a police officer wounded. Evidence later showed the soldiers were not responsible — witnesses had planted evidence and shell casings. The mass discharge stripped the men of pensions and veterans' benefits. Congress reversed the discharges posthumously in 1972; only one survivor, Dorsie Willis, was still alive to receive $25,000 compensation.