Felton Turner (April 2, 1933 - April 23, 2006) was an
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
man whose survival from a vicious attack on March 7, 1960, helped galvanize the city of
Houston, Texas
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
during the
Civil Rights Movement.
Turner was a 27-year-old unemployed awning installer in Houston who fell victim to the enmity caused by continuing sit-in demonstrations against
segregation Segregation may refer to:
Separation of people
* Geographical segregation, rates of two or more populations which are not homogenous throughout a defined space
* School segregation
* Housing segregation
* Racial segregation, separation of human ...
. Those protests, coming just over a month after the first such actions in
Greensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...
, had begun on March 4 at the local Weingarten's store by students from
Texas Southern University
Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically Black university in Houston. The university is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund an ...
. On March 7, Turner, who was not involved in the students' actions, was walking just a block from his home when he was abducted at gunpoint and transported to a deserted wooded area.
During the ride, Turner was continually beaten with a chain for approximately 30 minutes. The most chilling part of the ordeal came next as he watched the men carve two sets of "KKK" (in reference to the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
) into his stomach, then hang him by his knees to a nearby tree.
Following the departure of his captors, Turner was able to free himself, quickly calling police. On March 15, 18-year-old Ronald Gene Erickson was arrested for the crime following a routine traffic stop.
The attack helped awaken the African-American community in Houston to the continued injustices committed and also helped gain support for the students actions, including expanding the sit-ins to the downtown's
Walgreens
Walgreens is an American pharmacy store chain. It is the second largest in the United States, behind CVS Pharmacy. As of March 2025, the company operated more than 8,700 stores in the U.S.
Walgreens has been the subject of a number of lawsuit ...
stores. Over the next three years, virtually all businesses in downtown Houston were desegregated.
A 1997 documentary entitled, "The Strange Demise of
Jim Crow
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, " Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the ...
: How Houston Desegregated its Public Accommodations, 1959-1963," examines the Turner attack as part of the overall picture of civil rights in the city.
References
External links
Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, Felton
2006 deaths
Activists from Houston
20th-century African-American people
1933 births