This Day in History

Feb. 26, 1946: Columbia Uprising

Time Periods: 1945
Themes: African American, Criminal Justice & Incarceration, Laws & Citizen Rights, Racism & Racial Identity
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The Columbia Uprising took place in Columbia, Tennessee, on February 26, 1946, when Black residents collectively defended themselves against rioting police officers and local white supremacist militants.

1946 Columbia Race Riot Historical Marker. Source: Historical Marker Database

The National Historical Marker for the “1946 Columbia Race Riot” reads,

In February 1946 a struggle between an African American World War II veteran, James Stephenson, and a white shopkeeper over a radio repair order sparked a riot, fueled by law enforcement officers who raided the African American business district without search warrants and confiscated weapons. Police arrested more than 100 African American men, charging 25 with attempted murder. With legal defense team Z. Alexander Looby, Thurgood Marshall, Leon Ranson, and Maurice Weaver, an all-white jury acquitted 23 of the 25 men. Because of this incident and others in the South, President Harry Truman established the President’s Committee on Civil Rights.

Tom Hundley writes for the 1619 Project,

Over the course of the next several days, testimony was coerced from the Mink Slide prisoners by means of threats and beatings. Two were shot dead in the sheriff’s office for allegedly trying to escape. Bomar later explained how he subdued a third prisoner during the fatal scuffle in the sheriff’s office: “I pulled out my pistol and put my foot on his neck and told him to lay there and not give us any more trouble.” No one was ever charged in the killing of the two prisoners, but twenty-five Black men, seemingly selected at random, were charged with the attempted murder of the four lightly injured Columbia policemen. Of those twenty-five, at least nine were veterans. Read more.

Twenty-five Black men sit in Maury Circuit Court on May 28, 1946, for a hearing in their case. Nashville Public Library, Special Collections, Nashville Banner Archives, AP Photo. Source: The 1619 Project

Find more information in the Columbia Peace & Justice Initiative article, “1946 Columbia Race Riot.”

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