NAACP Executive Secretary John Shillady Beaten by Texas Officials for Civil Rights Work

John Shillady, the white executive secretary of the NAACP, traveled to Austin, Texas to protest official attempts to shut down the Texas NAACP chapter. He was seized on the street by a mob that included a county judge and a constable, and severely beaten. Texas authorities refused to prosecute. The federal government took no action. Shillady wrote: 'I am less confident than heretofore of the speedy success of the NAACP's full program and of the probability of overcoming, within a reasonable period, the forces opposed to Negro equality.' He resigned as executive secretary shortly after.