The Park Street riot occurred in Park Street and George Street

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England, on 15 July 1944 when many black US servicemen (GIs) refused to return to their camps after US military policemen (MPs) arrived to end a minor fracas. More MPs were sent, up to 120 in total, and Park Street was closed with buses. In subsequent confrontations an MP was stabbed, a black GI was shot dead, and several others were wounded.

Background

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

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 ...

s formed 10 per cent of

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

servicemen in Britain, a total of about 150,000 in 1944. Most were in labour companies, engineers, stevedores and transport units. Many were based in the

area because of the docks there. They had their barracks in Bedminster,

Brislington Brislington is an area in the south east of the city of Bristol, England. It is on the edge of Bristol and from Bath. Brislington Brook runs through the area in the woodlands of Nightingale Valley and St Anne's Wood. Brislington formerly hou ...

Henleaze Henleaze is a northern suburb of the city of Bristol in South West England. It is an almost entirely residential inter-war development, with Edwardian streets on its southern fringes. Its main neighbours are Westbury on Trym, Horfield, Bish ...

Shirehampton Shirehampton is a district of Bristol in England, near Avonmouth, at the northwestern edge of the city. It originated as a separate village, retains a High Street with a parish church and shops, and is still thought of as a village by many of it ...

and the Muller Orphanage at Ashley Down. The US Armed Forces were still racially segregated, and the soldiers of the labour companies were almost entirely black, while most of their officers were white, as were the MPs. Military commanders tended to treat these service units as "dumping grounds" for less competent officers, and leadership in the labour companies was poor. The British government did not approve of segregation but decided they could not interfere in the treatment of African-American people enlisted in the US Army. The British authorities would not organise segregated facilities nor enforce segregation in non-US Army facilities. In response the US Army administration encouraged separate days during the week for black and white troops to have leave passes. The US military actively developed a policy that involved the segregation of many facilities in Britain. Two separate Red Cross centres existed in Bristol: St George Street for coloured GIs; and

Berkeley Square Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Ke ...

for whites.

Earlier incidents

There were frequent clashes between black and white GIs. A US survey of soldiers' mail during the war revealed that white troops were particularly indignant about the public association of white women with black soldiers, which was unremarkable in Britain. In June 1943 a significant racial incident, the

Battle of Bamber Bridge The Battle of Bamber Bridge is the name given to an outbreak of racial violence involving American soldiers stationed in the village of Bamber Bridge, Lancashire, in Northern England during the Second World War. Tensions had been high following ...

, led to one death, 7 wounded and 32

court martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

led; this followed the riots in Detroit earlier that week. In September 1943 at Launceston in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

there was another armed confrontation between black GIs and MPs which left two MPs wounded; 14 black GIs were court martialled. The days before the Park Street Riot saw an increase in tension between the black and white GIs. On 10 July at the Muller Orphanage, where some of the black troops were billeted, several white paratroopers arrived. The black soldiers claimed that they were insulted and then beaten by the paratroopers.

545th Port Company mutiny

On the night of 12–13 July the 545th Port Company, an all-black segregated unit that was billeted at Sea Mills, mutinied. On the morning of 13 July the company refused direct orders to report for duty and remained in the barracks. They demanded better treatment from their officers, better accommodation for the soldiers in the guardhouse, and a halt to the paratroopers chasing black GIs through the streets of Bristol. The mutiny ended the same evening, without violence. One black soldier, Robert Davis of 542nd Port Company was accused of inciting the mutiny, and was court martialled on 6 September 1944 in Newport. He was sentenced to hard labour for life.

Riot

On the evening of Saturday 15 July approximately 400 black GIs gathered in the area of Park Street. Some of them were accompanied by British women and a US military policeman stopped them. This caused a minor disturbance which prompted the deployment of more policemen. In total 120 armed military policemen attended. The black soldiers were gathered to march back to the trucks that were to drive them to their barracks. The MPs tried to disarm some of them who had knives. The black soldiers refused to hand them over, their colleagues intervened and in the resulting confrontation one policeman was stabbed and his attacker shot dead. The MPs restored control by closing off the street with buses and shooting several GIs in the legs. Many black GIs were arrested and several were sent to the local hospital. A curfew was established in Bristol for many days afterwards.

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