December 11 is the anniversary of The Largest Mass Execution of US Soldiers thus far, in 1917. It should be completely unsurprising that these were all black men, and their trials were conducted swiftly with no appeals allowed.
In 1917, the US military was segregated down racial lines. The racist officers had the idea that black troops were inferior to white ones, and the black units should be tasked with non-combat and menial tasks. In July of that year, one of these units was tasked with guarding white troops that were preparing to leave for the war in Europe. The local police force however, felt that it was a travesty that they were wearing military uniforms at all and could give the local black population ideas. They continuously harassed them. They would arrest them arbitrarily, beat them, and generally make life miserable.
The breaking point came on August 23 of 1917. A black soldier who by all accounts was a model soldier, was arrested, shot at, and beaten by the police. Rumours quickly circulated that he had been killed. 150 of the soldiers decided that it was time to do something, and assembled. History is unclear on what their plan was, but modern historians think that the plan was to march into Houston and protest at the police station.
But regardless of their intentions, they never even made it into the city. A large group of armed white men met them at the outskirts. A gunfight soon broke out, leaving 4 soldiers, 4 policemen, and 12 white civilians dead. The Army quickly brought charges against 110 of the black soldiers. They were put on three mass trials, represented by an officer with no legal credentials. It took less than 3 days to convict the first group. 13 were murdered on this day. The other two trials were conducted just as swiftly, resulting in death sentences for another 16 soldiers. Due to public outrage, 10 of those were spared, but in total, 22 people were hanged, and 50 were sentenced to life in prison. Eventually, due to the tireless work of the NAACP, their sentences were reduced. The last men were released from prison 21 years later, in 1938.
It wasn’t until 2023 that the US military acknowledged their wrongdoing. They gave them all honourable discharges, and the convictions were overturned, perhaps because none of the men were still alive today. The US military continues to discriminate against their black troops.
Honourable mention to The El Mozote Massacre in 1981. The largest massacre in South America’s history, saw the deaths of over 1000 men, women, and children at the hands of a US trained and funded El Salvadoran death squad. This would be mirrored in Guatemala a year later, and repeated over and over in the following decade.