January 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.

At the Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Company in Mobile, Alabama, white workers riot after Black workers are promoted to welding positions. A white mob of several thousand attacks Black workers with pipes and tools, injuring approximately 50 Black workers. The federal government, needing wartime production, negotiates a compromise segregating work areas rather than protecting Black workers' rights.