Joe Winters was a 20-year-old

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

man who was

lynched Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

in Conroe,

Montgomery County, Texas Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county had a population of 620,443. The county seat is Conroe. The county was created by an act of the Congress of the Republic of Texas on December 14, ...

by a mob on May 20, 1922. According to the

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

it was the 27th of 61 lynchings during 1922 in the United States.

Background

A 14-year-old girl was allegedly assaulted on Friday, 4:00 PM, May 19, 1920, near Leonidas, Texas. Rudolph Manning was initially rounded up and smuggled to Houston, Texas by his employer W.H. Biggers, M.A. Anderson, former sheriff of Montgomery County and J.W. Baker but present day Montgomery Sheriff Hicks brought him back to Conroe and then to Leonidas where the victim said it wasn't him. A large crowd gathered in Conroe and rumours swirled that a new suspect, Joe Winters, had taken a horse near Waukegan, Texas. He was spotted from Waukegan on his way to Youens, Texas. Police arrested him at 2:00 PM on Saturday, May 20, 1922, and he was taken to Leonidas where the victim was allegedly able to identify him.

Lynching

Since the alleged attack, local newspapers had been calling for a crowd to gather and by the time of the positive identification thousands of people had gathered in

Conroe, Texas Conroe is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Texas, United States, about north of Houston. It is a principal city in the metropolitan area. As of 2021, the population was 98,081, up from 56,207 in 2010. Since 2007, the ...

. When Montgomery Sheriff Hicks returned to Conroe, he was quickly overpowered and the mob seized Winters and chained him to an iron post in courthouse square, where he had oil boxes stacked around him. The pile was ignited and he was burned alive proclaiming his innocence.

Bibliography

Notes * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Winters, Joe 1922 riots 1922 in Texas African-American history of Texas Deaths by person in Texas Lynching deaths in Texas February 1922 events Protest-related deaths Racially motivated violence against African Americans Riots and civil disorder in Texas White American riots in the United States

Background

Lynching

See also

Bibliography