Fred Rouse is the one recorded African American to have been lynched in Tarrant County. His grandson and several other non-profits search therapeutic by sharing his story.
FORT WORTH, Texas — In the shadows of the Fort price Stockyards, a century-long hidden historical past is buried.
On the nook of Northeast twelfth Street and Samuels Avenue sits the Fred Rouse memorial site. The empty plot of land is the positioning the place the husband, father and black citizen was lynched by a white mob on December eleventh, 1921.
Rouse, a union butcher at Swift & Company meat-packing is the one recorded African American to have been lynched in Tarrant County.
His grandson, Fred Rouse III by no means knew the story of his grandfather’s homicide.
“I’ve been in Dallas-Fort Worth my total grownup life since I used to be 22 and by no means knew something in regards to the story,” Rouse III mentioned.
That all modified when the North Texas man’s telephone rang on a quiet night in 2021.
“Boom. It’s like lightning struck,” Rouse III mentioned.
Rouse, 46 on the time, was at house watching the NBA finals when the decision got here in. It was about his family tree.
That’s how Rouse III realized that his grandfather, Fred Rouse, was the sufferer of a lynching greater than 100 years in the past.
From that day on, nothing was the identical. Rouse III was in a state of shock.
“I was in very much denial,” Rouse III mentioned.
“I was angry, I was horrified… at the same time, I was embarrassed to have to tell people that this happened.”
Rouse III instructed WFAA that his personal father by no means shared the story of what occurred to his dad.
“They took his dad from him. My dad was a baby when his father was murdered, so he never got a chance to grow up with his father,” Rouse III mentioned.
Ever since he realized the true story of his household historical past, Rouse III has linked with cousins he by no means knew he had. Through them, he has realized extra in regards to the tragedy’s toll on his household.
“He took that anger to his grave, he was just so hurt. Never told my mom, never told anybody,” Rouse III mentioned.
What occurred to Fred Rouse?
The assaults on Mr. Fred Rouse lasted from Tuesday, Dec. sixth, 1921, till Dec. eleventh, 1921.
According to the Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice, Rouse was first attacked by a white mob within the stockyards.
Rouse, a Black, non-union butcher for Swift & Company in Fort Worth, couldn’t be a part of white staff after they went on strike in 1921. Employees like Rouse have been typically known as upon to fill the roles left vacant by these putting.
When Rouse was first attacked on Dec. sixth, 1921, a white mob bludgeoned him and left him on Exchange Avenue. Police officers transported Rouse to the mortuary, however found he was nonetheless alive.
From there, they took him to the City & County Hospital in downtown Fort Worth.
Five days later, on Dec. eleventh, 1921, a mob of white males kidnapped Rouse from the hospital and drove him to what was often called the “Death Tree,” which sat on the nook of Northeast twelfth Street and Samuels Avenue.
The white mob hanged Rouse from the tree and left his physique coated in bullet holes. More than 100 individuals drove to the positioning to watch the aftermath of his homicide.
Members of the white mob have been indicted, however nobody was ever discovered responsible for Rouse’s homicide.
Rouse’s spirit lives on
Decades later, Rouse III grapples with the query: Why was his grandfather brutalized?
Transform 1012, a non-profit coalition of organizations is set to ensure Rouse’s story shall be instructed for generations to come back.
The undertaking was created to remodel the previous KKK Texas headquarters in Fort Worth right into a group and humanities house for therapeutic. Several organizations have partnered to make it occur, together with: DNAWORKS, LGBTQ SAVES, Opal Lee Foundation, SOL Ballet Folklorico, Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice, The Welman Project, Window to Your World and the 1012 Youth Council.
LGBTQ Founder Sharon Herrera instructed WFAA individuals should know and perceive the reality about what occurred to Rouse.
“One word: hate. That is the word. That triggered everything,” Herrera mentioned. “The history of the city, the unknown history that has come to light… We’re gonna turn that history around and make it something positive, something from the heart.”
Adam McKinney, President of TCCPJ and Co-Founder of DNAWORKS has labored tirelessly to uncover the historical past surrounding Rouse’s lynching.
“We believe that members of the KKK were involved in the murder of Fred Rouse, because of the manner in which he was murdered by hanging, by shooting, and first being abducted,” McKinney mentioned. “Those were performed and re-performed enactments and practices by the KKK. In working with the Rouse family and placing them at the center of this work, we’re healing from the inside.”
More than 100 years later, Rouse III visits the positioning of his grandfather’s lynching and speaks to his spirit.
The first time he went to the positioning, he sat in his automotive and struggled to confront his household’s painful previous. Now, a century after his grandfather was lynched on the website, he desires to set issues straight and rise above the hatred.
“They thought they killed the identify Fred Rouse. They thought they killed the man, Fred Rouse,” Rouse III said. “But 100 years later, Fred Rouse got here again within the kind of me. His blood got here again. Not on the bottom, however in a physique… And his identify nonetheless lives on.”
story by The Texas Tribune Source link
