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The Bogalusa, Louisiana Great Southern Lumber Mill Strike of 1919

The Great Southern Lumber Mill Strike of 1919 created strong biracial alliances between African American men and white men. It also furthered the development of social unity between these two races. Black unionists were some of the most influential instigators of change in the labor movement at this time and as a result, the identity of African American men was transformed. The final outbreak of defiance that occurred on November 22, 1919 ended the union campaigns in Bogalusa, Louisiana. Before this last outbreak however, there were many acts of defiance by unionists that contributed to the build up of tension between the opposing organizations. It is difficult to understand why November 22, 1919 was so significant without knowing about these tension-building acts and the oppression that the workers faced from the Great Southern Lumber Mill.

Background

Frank and Charles Goodyear established the Great Southern Lumber Mill in 1906. They were investors from Buffalo, New York who had recently run out of forest area at their two milling locations in Pennsylvania and Buffalo. They Goodyear brothers purchased a plot of land in the southeast corner of Louisiana near the Mississippi border close to the town of Washington Parish, Louisiana. Bogalusa was named after the “Bogue Lusa” creek located just next to it. There the Great Southern Lumber Mill was established in 1908 and became home to mostly Great Southern workers.

Bogalusa was looked upon admiringly by people and was regarded as “The Magic City” because it was full of opportunity and “home to the world’s largest lumber mill” . The employees of the Great Southern Lumber Mill were “economically dependent upon the company” . African Americans represented 60% of the town and Lumber Mill worker population. Great Southern provided a varied amount of services and housing to their workers. As in most southern towns at the time, Bogalusa was segregated. The town offered segregated schools for black and white children to attend, segregated YMCAs, segregated hospitals, neighborhoods and many segregated parks. The Lumber Mill autocratically ruled the town. They were able to control their workers by threatening eviction, threatening to shut off their utilities, which the Lumber Mill provided, and by using force when necessary. They also controlled their workers by paying them mainly in company scripts or giving them coupons to constrain them from consuming products .

Not as much tension existed between white and black men in the Lumber Mill as in other places because white men did not fear that black men would take their jobs. The company did not require many skills to work in the mill. The jobs were extremely dangerous and there was always a high risk of being either maimed or killed . The absence of white women during the men’s work day made it easier for the white and black men to form biracial alliances .
Not only was the mill important for creating biracial alliances between white and black men, but it was also important for restoring black men’s dignity and their patriarchal status. In contrast to this, white men lost their independence living in Bogalusa since the town controlled everyday life . Black men, however, were used to being controlled and by working at the mill they gained their dignity back by being able to provide for their families again.

Conflict

Conflict began when Southern Lumber Organization Association (SLOA) locked out their workers in over 40 lumber mills from Western Louisiana to Eastern Texas . The purpose of this lockout was to put an end to the organization of “Brotherhood of Timber Workers”, also called BTW. The SLOA was an organization founded in 1906 that was anti-unionist and the Great Southern was one of their members. Black and white workers were encouraged to organize together by the BTW. The organization emphasized the importance of having support from African Americans. This influential movement changed the African American man’s identity from being regarded as a “slave” to being seen as a “man” fighting for his rights .

Woodrow Wilson played a huge role in the support of labor workers, including the establishment of the Department of Labor. In 1914, when World War I had begun, Wilson pushed for an increase in the production of steel, lumber, and mining to contribute to the war efforts. He also advocated higher pay for workers. Yet once the war was over his push for union workers’ increased wages ended. In 1917, due to inflation, up to 4,000 strikes occurred that resulted in the shutting down of production for almost a year . The great migration period also played an influential role in the loss of workers at the Great Southern Lumber Mill. African Americans moved north where there were more job opportunities and a chance to get out of the racist south . African American soldiers returning from the war came back with a more resistant attitude towards America’s Jim Crow laws. They enjoyed their equality and being able to date white women in Europe, so once they were home they decided it was time to take a more forceful stand for their rights.

The tension between unionists and anti-unionist organizations began to reach its peak in 1919. The experiences of New Orleans labor workers who had overcome their companies oppression and began receiving equal wages were influential to Bogalusa lumbermen . In 1919 the majority of Bogalusa lumber jacks and lumber workers created the “Central Trades and Labor Council” with white unionist Lem Williams as president . In attempts to derail people from joining the union movements, Great Southern used the 1919 Red Scare claiming unionism could create acts of Bolshevism .

While this was occurring, the Great Southern was firing many of their white workers and hiring black men in replacement since African American workers were paid less. In an effort to compromise with the mill, the American Federation of Labor, AFL for short, told the Great Southern that if the company stopped replacing white workers with blacks, they would stop organizing African Americans . The Great Southern disregarded this and in retaliation fired all their white workers and replaced them with non-union black men . This motivated the AFL to organize African American workers. Great Southern discouraged the organization of blacks because they did not want them to get the idea that they were considered to be equal. Hoping to dissuade white southerners from joining the union movement, they claimed that unionism would create social equality in the south and they began to put out propaganda against the union.

White union men demonstrated acts of defiance by defending their fellow African American unionists. On June 14, 1919 a significant event occurred in Bogalusa that promoted and strengthened biracial alliance between both races and further developed social unity between them. The Great Southern had announced that day that African American workers would not be allowed to organize anymore and company gunmen would use force if they still intended to meet. This led to an extraordinary act of defiance by white union members as one hundred armed white unionists appeared in the “Negro Quarter” that evening and escorted black unionists to their meeting .

In an effort to diminish the union campaign, the Great Southern began to display acts of violence to scare people from organizing. The SPLL, or Self-Preservation Loyalty League, was then created with their values being based off of the Ku Klux Klan. Their purpose was to protect white citizens from black unionists since black unions wanted equality and had begun to arm themselves. They also used the Red Scare to intimidate white southerners of the threat that these black unionists posed. Loyalty League members and gunmen began to target black and white union leaders who were beaten and then driven out of town or evicted .

November 22, 1919

On November 21, 1919 tensions between the anti-unionists and unionists reached a climax. That night a mob of one hundred armed company gunmen and Loyalty League men showed up at the home of Sol Dacus. Sol Dacus was the black leader of the International Union of Timber Workers and was head of the black section. The men fired into his home, but fortunately, his family was unharmed and he was able to escape and hide in the swamp for the night. The next morning he encountered two white union men, J.P. Bouchillon and Stanley O’Rourke, who accompanied Sol Dacus to the headquarters of Central Trades and Labor Council, which was located in Lem Williams’ garage . The site of these two white men who were armed with shotguns walking on either side of Dacus was seen as a threat and flabbergasted white residents. After they had reached the headquarters, a posse of company gunmen and SPLL men arrived after seeing the three unionists walk down Main Street.

There are three conflicting accounts about the gunfight that broke out minutes after the posse had arrived. The gunmen claimed that when they had arrived the unionists had open fired on them when the posse tried to give out arrest warrants to Dacus, Bouchillon, and O’Rourke . However, a more convincing and accurate account is from the bystanders, Lem Williams’ wife and brother. They claimed that after Williams had asked what the posse wanted, the posse open fired on the union men killing Williams, Bouchillon, and another union man Thomas Gaines while Dacus was able to escape back to the swamp. O’Rourke was wounded and died in the hospital later that week.

The third conflicting account is from the Kansas City Advocate newspaper that wrote an article on June 4 1920 of the current standings on what happened and the trial afterwards. It states, “Grand jury failed to indict any one in connection with the killings of 5 trade unionists…A posse of gun-men began a search for a colored worker of good reputation who was influential among his fellows. The colored man hid in the swamps and escaped to New Orleans with the assistance of the white workers. The next day a fleet of automobiles, loaded with armed thugs and company men, drove up to the union head quarters and demanded “that nigger.” The unionists denied that they were concealing the colored man, and asked the leaders of the posse to come into their headquarters. This was answered by a volley from shotguns, rifles and revolvers. The fusillade resulted in the death of five trade unionists” .

Aftermath

Hopes were high for African Americans after they heard of this occurrence. African American newspapers praised the white union men who had risked their lives to save the black Sol Dacus. They were eager that this would lead to social unity, however it did not. Instead, the murders of the four union men and the near lynching of Sol Dacus put a halt to the unionism effort in Bogalusa by the fear it evoked in the lumber mill workers . The federal and state government never investigated the Bogalusa killings and did not prosecute the gunmen or Loyalty League members. Although Williams’ wife pressed charges against the company and took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, the gunmen were not found guilty. Even though she told the court what she heard Bob Carson, one of the posse men, say that they “had come to kill Lem William, and they had killed him”, the court still ruled that Bouchillon and O’Rourke clearly demonstrated threatening behavior by walking down Main Street armed and one declaring, “that they would like to see any white man who could come and take Dacus away” .

Conclusion and Significance to African American History

The events that unfolded on November 22, 1919 had been the first and only incidence of biracial alliance in the first half of the 20th Century. It was a most significant event, marking the first time white people had defended their black compatriots in the 20th Century. These acts of defiance by white union men who defended their fellow black unionists defied the Great Southern Lumber Mills efforts to segregate the community. The company’s oppression towards both races at the lumber mill contributed to the developing social unity between black and white lumber mill workers. White unionist views towards African Americans changed, “White union men defended Sol Dacus as a ‘man of exemplary habits’ whose ‘only crime is to be a union man’”. The labor union movement transformed the identity of African American men, portraying them as men who were now fighting for their rights to equal pay, rather than ex-slaves.

References

Primary Sources

Unknown. "LOYALTY LEAGUERS KILL 3 UNION MEN: Bogalusa, La., Is Scene of a Pitched Battle Over a Negro Agitator. UNIONISTS SHIELDED NEGRO Are Besieged and Shot Down by a Crowd Representing Local Business Interests. Union Protests to Palmer." New York Times 22 Nov. 1919: 1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Web. Mar.-Apr. 2013.


Unknown. Kansas City Advocate 28 Nov. 1919, 6th ed.: 2. America's Newspapers. Web. Mar.-Apr. 2013.

Unknown. Kansas City Advocate 4 June 1920, 6th ed.: 4. America's Newspapers. Web. Mar.-Apr. 2013.

Secondary Sources

Norwood, Stephen H. "Bogalusa Burning: The War Against Biracial Unionism in the Deep South, 1919." The Journal of Southern History 63.3 (1997): 591-628. JSTOR. Southern Historical Association, 2007. Web. Mar.-Apr. 2013.


Wyche, Billy H. "Paternalism, Patriotism, and Protest in "The Already Best City in the Land": Bogalusa, Louisiana, 1906-1919." Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association 40.1 (1999): 63-84. JSTOR. Web. Mar.-Apr. 2013.

The Internationalist Group. "Bloody Bogalusa, 1919: When Four White Unionists Died Defending Their Black Comrades." Bloody Bogalusa, 1919. The Internationalist Group: League for the Fourth International, Feb. 2012. Web. Mar.-Apr. 2013.

Hine, Darlene Clark, William C. Hine, and Stanley Harrold. The African-American Odyssey. 5th ed. Vol. 2. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2011. Print.