5,000 Rounds- Stories from the 1967 TSU Police Riot

Welcome to the A.P.E. Academy Podcast! In this episode we are going back to the night of May 16 and into the early morning of May 17, 1967 on the campus of Texas Southern University, a historically Black university located in Houston’s historic Third Ward neighborhood. 

The 1960s saw the United States rocked by nationwide protests demanding social, political, and economic equality for marginalized communities, most notably for African American voting rights and the end of Jim Crow segregation. While mainstream organizations like SCLC and SNCC grabbed national headlines, smaller local grassroots movements emerged as powerful countermeasures to state sanctioned violence and oppression. In the days and hours prior to the police riot, large groups of Texas Southern University students and residents of Houston’s predominately African American Third Ward rallied against abysmal living conditions and city neglect. While highly effective at stoking public outrage and unifying civil rights groups across the city, the campaign provided city officials with an excuse to retaliate against TSU’s student organizers. Beginning at approximately 11pm on May 16, 1967, the Houston Police Department launched a shockingly violent military style operation during which they arrested 489 students and bombarded a student dormitory with between 3-5,000 bullets. When the smoke cleared, one officer lay dead and multiple students and officers were wounded. What led to this severe escalation? Who was responsible for the death of Officer Louis Kuba? In this episode we will address these questions and unpack the events of the night through the personal experiences of those present. 

Music Credits 

Intro/Outro Music:  “[FREE] Houston Texas Type Beat 2024 ‘Cold Blooded’”

Artist: Rewind Era

Source: YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5WIvSxgzkc&list=RDG5WIvSxgzkc&start_radio=1 

To Learn More/Resources:

• The Houston Public Library: https://houstonlibrary.org/aahrc
• The Houston Public Library Digital Archives: https://houstonlibrary.org/digital-archives 

To learn more about the history of Texas Southern University: https://tsu.edu/about/history.php 

To learn more about The Houston Post now The Houston Chronicle newspaper: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/