The Pittsburgh Press (February 26, 1946)
Tennessee police crush race riot
Seven wounded in all-night clash
COLUMBIA, Tennessee (UP) – Rioting Negroes who had battled police during the night were being subdued today after seven persons were wounded.
Acting to put down Tennessee’s worst racial disorder in years, more than 50 state highway patrolmen raided a two-block Negro business area known as the “Mink Slide.” Sixty-five Negroes were arrested.
The wounded included four city policemen, two white men and a Negro.
The highway patrolmen, under command of Lynn Bomar, state public service director and former All-American football player, sped to this Middle Tennessee city before dawn.
Fire through windows
Armed with machine-guns, they searched every Negro building in the two-block area, firing through windows when Negroes refused to open barricaded doors. Some Negroes returned the gunfire.
Feelings between Negroes and whites reached the breaking point last night after a fight between a Negro woman and her son and a white Navy veteran.
Rumors that lynching parties were being formed and that rope for the purpose was being purchased at a hardware store swept through the Negro settlements.
Mr. Bomar and Brig. Gen. Jacob M. Dickinson, commander of the Second Brigade, Tennessee State Guard, rode through the Negro sections today in a sound truck, broadcasting appeals for the Negroes to be calm.
Surround area
Gen. Dickinson’s brigade was composed of about 500 guardsmen. He said they were called out as a precautionary measure and were not taking part in the raids.
Highway patrolmen surrounded the Negro district. Columbia has a population of 3,000 Negroes and 5,000 whites.
Hundreds of curious white persons were held back from the danger area. Some of them had been out during the night, armed with pistols, ready for trouble.