Solomon “Sol” Dacus was a Black labor leader in early 20th century Bogalusa. He was born in Lawrence County, Alabama in 1862 and left home at the age of 14 to find his fortune, eventually becoming a mill owner and independent contractor for the shipping piers in Gulfport, Mississippi. By the time he moved to Bogalusa in 1908, he was prosperous enough to purchase two properties where he planted an oak grove and fruit trees. In 1919, as head of the newly formed Black local of the International Union of Timber Workers, Dacus became active in a bi-racial alliance between the Black and white labor unions in Bogalusa, fighting for fair wages and living conditions. The solidarity between Black and white workers infuriated company management. Mayor W.H. Sullivan warned that the “darkies…would cause a race riot,” and the company formed a Klan-like militia of white business and professional leaders called the Self-Preservation and Loyalty League whose members swore an oath to protect white supremacy.

On the night of November 21, 1919, a mob of 100 company gunmen and Loyalty League members surrounded Dacus’s house and began firing indiscriminately, killing his dog and nearly missing his wife and children. They wrecked and looted his furniture and stole his war bonds. Dacus was hiding in a nearby swamp while the attempted lynching took place. In the morning, two white union workers, Stanley O’Rourke and J.P. Bouchillon, met Dacus in the woods and offered to accompany him to union headquarters to file a complaint with the Department of Justice. The sight of a Black man flanked by two armed white men marching down Bogalusa’s main street caused a furor. White citizens summoned the police and the company set off its riot siren. When the group reached union headquarters, a posse of 150 men was waiting. They shot and killed J.P. Bouchillon, carpenter Thomas Gaines and union president Lem Williams. Stanley O’Rourke died later of gunshot wounds. Dacus miraculously managed to escape to New Orleans. A year later, Dacus sued the City of Bogalusa and seven members of the mob which attacked his house for $102,360 in damages. While the suit was unsuccessful, Dacus’s courage and determination to fight for the justice denied him were exceptional. The collection contains Dacus’s lawsuit, including his court testimony, and files from the Bureau of Investigation (which became the FBI) which was still surveilling Dacus in 1920 as he continued to advocate for labor rights.