City Of Fort Worth: Black History Month Spotlight: Fred Rouse

Press release from City of Fort Worth:

February 21, 2022

Black History Month, celebrated in February, is a time to honor the contributions and legacy of African Americans across U.S. history and society, including activists, civil rights pioneers and leaders in industry, politics, science, culture and more. In the spirit of that mission, each Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the rest of the month, a local Black hero will be featured in hopes that their stories will inspire you all year long to explore other fascinating change agents.

Not much is known about the birth and early life of Fred Rouse, who is the first documented African American to be lynched in Fort Worth by a mob. Likely born to parents who had been enslaved in Mississippi, Rouse moved to Fort Worth in the 1910s, where he married and had three children, including his youngest son, who bore his name.

His death certificate, dated Dec. 23, 1931, reveals that he was born in Texas on Nov. 12, 1868, to Charles Rouse and Matilda Smith, was married and lived on South Jones Street. It also documents that he was a packinghouse butcher whose “death resulted from hanging and gunshot wounds (murder).”

Rouse was a butcher for Swift & Co. in the Niles City Stockyards during a time when, for the most part, Black laborers were not permitted to be members of unions. As a result, Rouse couldn’t join Swift’s white employees when they went on strike in 1921, but like many other non-union workers, they were often called on to fill in for the jobs vacated by strikers. His decision to work led to his abduction and lynching.

When Rouse left work at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 6, 1921, he was accosted, attacked and stabbed repeatedly by strikers and strike agitators. In the brawl, two shots were fired that hit brothers Tom and Tracy Maclin. A white mob bludgeoned Rouse with a streetcar guardrail. He was left for dead on Exchange Avenue.

Niles City police officers asked the mob to relinquish the body of Rouse, which they placed in a police car. On the way to the mortuary, officers discovered that Rouse was still alive. They drove him south to the basement Negro Ward of the City & County Hospital at 330 E. Fourth St.

Five days later at 11 p.m. on Dec. 11, 1921, a mob of white men barged into the hospital, threatened the staff and abducted Rouse from the Negro Ward. They drove north to what had become known as the Death Tree at the corner of NE 12th St. and Samuels Avenue. There they hanged Rouse and riddled his body with bullets. Over 100 people drove to the site to view the hanging body.

Rouse was buried Dec. 12 in New Trinity Cemetery in Haltom City and two days later, the property owner of the site where Rouse was lynched cut down the Death Tree. Indictments were handed down against members of the mob, but, despite the overwhelming evidence, no one was ever found guilty in Rouse’s murder.

There are no known photos of Rouse.

Source: Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice. 

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This press release was produced by City of Fort Worth. The views expressed here are the author’s own.