The Great Southern Lumber Company, chartered by the Goodyear family in 1902, operated in southeastern Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi, primarily harvesting longleaf pine forests.

[1][2] Racial tensions in Bogalusa were already high due to incidents like the lynching of Black veteran Lucius McCarty on August 31, 1919, following allegations of assaulting a white woman.

Conflicting accounts exist regarding who fired first, but the incident resulted in the deaths of four white unionists, including Bouchillon, O'Rourke, Lem Williams, and carpenter Thomas Gaines, along with two Black men.

[5][6][7][8][9] The Bogalusa saw mill killings were part of the American Red Summer of 1919, a period of civil unrest marked by attacks on Black communities and racial oppression in various U.S. cities and counties.

These events, including the Bogalusa massacre, highlighted the challenges faced by Black labor organizers and the broader struggle for civil rights in the United States.