The Sherman Courthouse Riot: The Lynching of George Hughes

Explicit content warning

11/04/21 • 91 min

Paris' lifelong search for her family's genealogical records leads her to investigate the reason they are missing: the lynching of a 41-year-old African American man named George Hughes in 1930. Accused of assaulting a white woman in Sherman, located within Grayson County, Texas, George never gets his day in court. Instead, locals burn down the courthouse with Hughes trapped inside and later carry out a postmortem lynching. Special guest Melissa Thiel, a public historian and a native of Grayson County, joins Paris later in the episode to discuss her efforts in getting an historical marker placed at the county courthouse to memorialize this significant crime and to discuss artifacts from this case that she's uncovered in her own research. This episode provides little-known background information on George Hughes, his accusers, and the town of Sherman during the Jim Crow era. Please sign Melissa Thiel's historical marker petition at shermanriot.org and visit the Historical Marker for the 1930 Sherman Riot Facebook group for updates and more information about this true crime.

If you like this episode, please subscribe, rate us with 5 stars on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher, and consider supporting this one-woman show at Patreon. Apologies for the sound quality of this episode; I'm in a new recording studio which has not yet been fully soundproofed.

Host: Paris Brown

Produced, written, & edited by: Paris Brown

Music:

Dr. Frankenstein. “Theme for ‘The Mad Thinker’” from The Cursed Tapes: Stolen Songs from Dr. Frankenstein’s Lab, 2005

and

Canción Triste by Luis Enrique Guerra Naveda (royalty-free music)

Credits:

Podcast artwork by: Nathalie Rattner ([email protected])

Logo lettering by: St. Anchor Graphics

Featured photo: Texas Standard.

Social Media:

Reddit discussion group

Sources:

Associated Press. “Guilty Plea in Sherman Riot; 2-Year Sentence.” Fort Worth Star Telegram, 2 July 1931, p. 2.

Boessenecker, John. Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde. Thomas Dunne Books, 2016.

Crabb, Beth. “May 1930: White Man’s Justice for a Black Man’s Crime.” The Journal of Negro History, vol. 75, no. 1/2, 1990, pp. 29-40.

“Farmer’s Case in Sherman Riot Set for Monday.” The Marshall News Messenger (Marshall, Texas), 31 May 1931, p. 1.

Honey Grove Signal Citizen, 16 May 1930.

Kumler, Donna J. “They Have Gone from Sherman”: The Courthouse Riot of 1930 and Its Impact on the Black Professional Class. 1995. University of North Texas, PhD dissertation.

Lipke, Alan. “Lynching’s End? The Texas Courthouse Riot.” Listening Between the Lines. February 2008.

McElroy, Njoki. 1012 Natchez: A Memoir of Grace, Hardship, and Hope. Brown Books, 2009.

Phillips, Edward H. “The Sherman Courthouse Riot of 1930.” East Texas Historical Journal, vol. 25, no. 2, October 1987, pp. 12-19.

ADDITIONAL SOURCES LISTED ON LINKED WEBSITE BELOW.

Host: Paris Brown

Produced, written, & edited by: Paris Brown

Music:

Dr. Frankenstein. “Theme for ‘The Mad Thinker’” from The Cursed Tapes: Stolen Songs from Dr. Frankenstein’s Lab, 2005

and

Canción Triste by Luis Enrique Guerra Naveda (royalty-free music)

Credits:

Podcast artwork by: Nathalie Rattner ([email protected])

Logo lettering by: St. Anchor Graphics

Featured photo: Texas Standard.

Social Media:

Reddit discussion group

Sources:

Associated Press. “Guilty Plea in Sherman Riot; 2-Year Sentence.” Fort Worth Star Telegram, 2 July 1931, p. 2.

Boessenecker, John. Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde. Thomas Dunne Books, 2016.

Crabb, Beth. “May 1930: White Man’s Justice for a Black Man’s Crime.” The Journal of Negro History, vol. 75, no. 1/2, 1990, pp. 29-40.

“Farmer’s Case in Sherman Riot Set for Monday.” The Marshall News Messenger (Marshall, Texas), 31 May 1931, p. 1.

Honey Grove Signal Citizen, 16 May 1930.

Kumler, Donna J. “They Have Gone from Sherman”: The Courthouse Riot of 1930 and Its Impact on the Black Professional Class. 1995. University of North Texas, PhD dissertation.

Lipke, Alan. “Lynching’s End? The Texas Courthouse Riot.” Listening Between the Lines. February 2008.

McElroy, Njoki. 1012 Natchez: A Memoir of Grace, Hardship, and Hope. Brown Books, 2009.

Phillips, Edward H. “The Sherman Courthouse Riot of 1930.” East Texas Historical Journal, vol. 25, no. 2, October 1987, pp. 12-19.

ADDITIONAL SOURCES LISTED ON LINKED WEBSITE BELOW.

Previous Episode

11. Truman Capote & Ann Woodward: Miss Bang-Bang, Part 2

A glamorous but ostracized socialite shoots her husband in their home one night but claims she thought he was a prowler. High society (mostly) takes her word for it...until Truman Capote, the author of the first true crime novel, In Cold Blood, reminds the public of the Woodwards' fraught relationship and accuses Ann of murder by writing a vicious short story about her. This is part 2, which focuses on Ann and Billy Woodward and the infamous shooting.

At the 45-second mark, Batty the podcat joins in with the cutest little squeak ever.

This is the fourth episode in the podcast's second season, "Stranger than Fiction." Click on our website link below for source information.

If you like this episode, please subscribe, rate us with 5 stars on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher, and consider supporting us at Patreon.

Host: Paris Brown

Produced, written, & edited by: Paris Brown

Recorded at The Dope Spot Studios, Pomona, CA., USA.

Music:
Dr. Frankenstein. "Theme for 'The Mad Thinker'" from The Cursed Tapes: Stolen Songs from Dr. Frankenstein's Lab, 2005
and
Tchaikovsky. "Piano Concerto No. 1," 1874-75, as performed by Martha Argerich, 1975.
Creative Commons attribution license.

Podcast artwork by: Nathalie Rattner ([email protected])

Logo lettering by: St. Anchor Graphics

Reddit discussion group

Next Episode

Oscar Zeta Acosta: Fear, Loathing, and the Disappearance of a Brown Buffalo

The character of Dr. Gonzo in the book and film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is based on a real person: a one-time military airman...turned Baptist missionary...turned legal aid attorney...turned Los Angeles County Sheriff's candidate...turned author...turned missing person. This is the story of the intriguing life and mysterious, unsolved disappearance of Oscar Zeta Acosta. We'll take a trip back to Los Angeles in the 1970s that features psychedelics, Chicano civil rights activism--and a lone, self-described brown buffalo wandering the halls of justice.

If you like this episode, please subscribe, rate us with 5 stars on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher, and consider supporting this one-woman show at Patreon.

Host: Paris Brown

Produced, written, & edited by: Paris Brown

Credits:

Podcast artwork by: Nathalie Rattner ([email protected])

Featured photo: The New Yorker

Social Media:

Reddit discussion group

Sources:

Aguirre, Abby. “What ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ Owes to Oscar Acosta.” The New Yorker, 13 Jul 2021.

Brown, Paris W. “’The Mexican Situation:’ An Evolution of the Marked Body in The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo.” 2012.

Cassidy, Craig. “Remember Oscar? Memories Stir over Long-Lost Folk Figure, OHS Alumnus.” The Oakdale Leader [Oakdale, California], 17 May 1995.

Maza, Michael. “’Buffalo’ Roams into the Hollywood Slapstick Trap.” Arizona Republic, 29 Apr 1980, p. 17.

Moore, Burton. Love and Riot: Oscar Zeta Acosta and the Great Mexican American Revolt. Floricanto P, 2002.

Moreno, Dorinda. Personal interview, 20 Nov 2021.

Nájera, Marcos. “The Ladies in His Life.” The Zeta Podcast Series 1.3. 17 Mar 2018.

The Rise and Fall of the Brown Buffalo. Directed by Phillip Rodriguez, performances by Dave Beaudrie, Xavier Becerra, and Anahi Bustillos, City Projects, 2017.

Stavens, Ilan. Bandido: Oscar “Zeta” Acosta and the Chicano Experience. HarperCollins, 1995.

ADDITIONAL SOURCES LISTED ON LINKED WEBSITE BELOW.

Music:

“Theme for ‘The Mad Thinker’” from The Cursed Tapes: Stolen Songs from Dr. Frankenstein’s Lab. Dr. Frankenstein, 2005

ADDITIONAL SOURCES LISTED ON LINKED WEBSITE BELOW.