FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – The sufferer of the one recorded lynching of a black man in Fort Value received his first memorial this weekend, precisely 100 years after his demise.
“Once I take into consideration this taking place on this group, on this house, it’s simply mind-blowing,” mentioned Fred Rouse III, the grandson of Fred Rouse.
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Fred Rouse III, the grandson of the one Black man lynched in Fort Value, stands in entrance of his grandfather’s headstone. (Credit score: Rodger Mallison)
The positioning of one of many darkest chapters within the metropolis’s historical past is in an industrial space of Fort Value on the intersection of NE twelfth St. and Samuels Avenue, largely unnoticed by passing automobiles.
It’s the place Fred Rouse was lynched.
The story is so painful, his circle of relatives couldn’t bear to speak about it.
“I used to be 46 once I discovered,” mentioned Rouse III. “Yeah, so for 46 years, I by no means knew something about this.”
Fred Rouse was a black butcher for Swift & Firm within the Stockyards. As a strikebreaker, he crossed each union and racial strains. Leaving work at some point, he was attacked, stabbed and left for useless by a bunch of strike agitators.
After police found Rouse was nonetheless alive, they introduced him to the hospital. 5 days later, a mob of offended white males barged in and kidnapped him.
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They drove north to what had turn out to be referred to as the “Loss of life Tree.”
“Twenty minutes later, he was hanged from a hackberry tree and his physique was riddled with bullets,” Rouse III mentioned. “100 years in the past, simply yesterday, blood soaked these grounds, after which for 100 years later to the day, to have his household – his blood relations right here – touching this floor once more, it’s like the whole lot got here full circle. It’s bittersweet.”
Rouse III is now working with the Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice to deliver consciousness to what occurred. They unveiled a historic marker on the lynching web site on Saturday.
“It was being hidden from all people, and I feel by bringing this out, it actually exhibits the true previous of Fort Value and all of the issues that occurred,” mentioned Rouse III.
The group additionally broke floor for the memorial they hope to ultimately construct.
Rouse III says it’s solely by really acknowledging the racism and violence that the therapeutic can start.
“Lots of people simply wish to conceal the unhealthy and solely present the great, however I feel this right here, while you present the unhealthy as properly, you’ve got a extra full group and a greater group,” he mentioned.
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A Fort Value Heritage Trails Historic Marker will quickly be positioned on the former Metropolis & County Hospital, now the Maddux-Muse Middle, as properly. The marker paperwork the kidnapping of Mr. Rouse from this hospital on Dec. 11, 1921.
