Bogalusa, a small Louisiana town located in Washington Parish, witnessed a historic moment in 2022 when Tyrin Truong assumed office as its first Black Mayor, securing his place as the city’s youngest mayor to date.
Truong’s mission for Bogalusa goes beyond mere governance; it is a genuine call for racial equity, justice, economic revitalization, and the reduction of violence in this historic city.
In his inaugural term, Truong has taken decisive steps, such as demanding the departure of the troubled local police chief, Kendall Bullen. This move was prompted by a federal lawsuit accusing Bogalusa police of violating the civil rights of a 28-year-old man who tragically passed away while in police custody the previous year.
Perhaps one of the most striking moments of Tyrin Truong’s tenure, however, was the letter he penned to Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, urgently seeking aid in the face of rising violence plaguing his city.
Racial Tension and Challenges in Bogalusa’s History
Yet, the echoes of history persist in Bogalusa, where racial tension and threats still linger in the air. During the 1960s, Bogalusa was heavily segregated, legally (i.e., Jim Crow enforced) and culturally racist. Like a stubborn relic of the 20th century, some White public officials and residents remain resistant to the winds of change.
However, there is a glimmer of hope, as former members of the Deacons for Defense and Justice, like Henry Austan, stand as living testaments to the enduring spirit of racial justice and self-defense.
In the face of ongoing racial terrorism such as the killing of Alton Sterling by two police officers, several church bombings in St. Landry Parish by a White resident, the unimaginable killing and mutilating of a 15-year-old Quawan Charles, and the cruel and unusual punishment of children in Angola prison, prove why the need for the Deacons for Defense is necessary in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast South.
The Emergence of the Deacons for Defense and Justice
Prior to the emergence of the well-known Black Panther Party for Self-Defense on the West Coast in 1966, the Gulf Coast Southern states had the Deacons for Defense and Justice, founded in Jonesboro, Louisiana in 1964.
Bogalusa became established as a company town in Washington Parish in the early 1900s.
The city of Bogalusa was essentially owned and run by the Great Southern Lumber Company, which was owned by Crown-Zellerbach (CZ)—one of the largest corporations in the United States at the time.
According to the Zinn Education Project, “Great Southern owned everything — houses, stores, electric utility, schools, even the segregated parks. They also ran the government. The mill’s general manager was the mayor, and the police department took their orders from the company.”
In 1919, African Americans and White unionists in Bogalusa joined together in interracial union labor solidarity, which led to forced evictions, drive-by shootings, house bombings, kidnappings, and four white union workers murdered.
Struggles for Worker’s Rights and Racial Uproar
The Louisiana unionists’ fight for worker’s rights were similar to the beliefs of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., during the end of his life.
Wealthy White capitalists feared the rise of Black and resource-deprived communities coming together.
The town was strongly influenced by Crown-Zellerbach (CZ), one of the largest corporations in the United States at the time. CZ owned three factories in Bogalusa, 40% of residents were employed by CZ, about 100 employees were members of the Ku Klux Klan, and 70% of the city’s taxes came from CZ employees.
Black factory workers were not allowed to eat, sit, use the same restrooms, or obtain the same jobs as their white colleagues. Instead, they worked menial-paid jobs that required strenuous physical strength.
In 1963-1964, CZ ended segregation in the company cafeteria and shower rooms and laid off 500 Black and white workers. This caused a racial uproar in the city.
The organization, a discreet and armed self-defense organization, was created to protect communities of color from racial violence against white vigilantes and the Ku Klux Klan.
CORE’s Role in Bringing Deacons to Bogalusa
In 1965, the nonviolent civil rights organization Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), played a key role in bringing the Deacons for Defense to Bogalusa. Most CORE members in Bogalusa were teenage boys and girls who conducted sit-ins and boycotts.
When white mobs would verbally, and physically assault the Black teenagers and harass Black voters, the city’s political leaders nor the police officer department protected them.
Adding to the tragedy, in 1965, the Ku Klux Klan shot and killed both of Washington Parish’s first two Black sheriffs, with one of the officers losing his life. The culprits responsible for this heinous act were never apprehended.
Armed Black Louisianians already existed to protect their community and CORE organizers, however, more people were needed.
On February 21, 1965, Deacon leaders of the Jonesboro Chapter, Ernest Thomas, F.D. Kirkpatrick, and CORE field secretary, Charles Fenton arrived in Bogalusa to organize the new Deacons for Defense chapter, voting in no-nonsense Charles Sims, its first chapter president.
Impact of the Deacons on Civil Rights
The Deacons were not aggressors but simply defenders of their personhood and community, “No man a member of the Deacons will attack anyone, he has to use his weapons in defense only.” Sims said.
They aimed to protect all communities from domestic terrorism, not just Washington Parish. “…when the white power structure found out that they had mens, Negro mens that had made up their minds to stand up for their people and to give no ground, would not tolerate with no more police brutality, it [tended] to keep the Night Riders out of the neighborhood,” he said.
According to the African American National Archives, there were over 20 chapters throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas.
Because of the Deacons, civil rights workers were able to succeed against segregation and voter intimidation. They were also effective in getting the local authorities to neutralize the Ku Klux Klan and uphold federal civil rights laws.