Slocum is an unincorporated community in southeast Anderson County, Texas, in the United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 198 in 2018. It is located within the Palestine, Texas micropolitan area. It is notable as the site of what is known as the Slocum Massacre, an unprovoked attack by a large mob of whites on what was then a majority-black community on July 29–30, 1910. Some twenty-two Blacks were documented as killed; other estimates are that up to ten times that number may have been murdered. History The community's name is thought to have originated with E.T. McDaniel, the first shopkeeper and postmaster, who had long sought to get a post office for the community. When the town was authorized a US post office in 1898, the residents called it a "slow come." Other reported reasons for the name Slocum include slow-coming fortunes being made, or town growth being slow. It developed as a place of majority black settlement, by freedmen and their descendants. They established families, businesses, and farms. After the 1910 massacre described below, many surviving blacks left the area for good in order to save their lives. In 1914, the community had two general stores and 45 people; by 1927 the population increased to 200. By 1939 the community had rebuilt and had eight new businesses and 160 inhabitants. The discovery of oil in nearby fields caused the community's economy to receive a boost in the late 1950s, and by 1964, the community's population grew to 200 residents. Afterward, the community declined to 110 people in 1970. It grew to 125 in 1974, holding there until 1990. The community had four businesses, two churches, and a few homes in the mid-1980s. It doubled to 250 in 2000 but declined to 175 in 2014. Slocum massacre of 1910 On July 29–30, 1910, a mob of 200 to 300 armed white men, most on horseback, started attacking Slocum, where they killed an unknown number of African Americans. Historians have offered several explanations for what sparked the event. Contemporary newspapers, including The New York Times, originally reported 8 to 22 deaths among blacks. But evidence indicates more, and survivors' stories say that the actual death toll may have reached upward of 200 victims. Bodies were found across a wide area, including in fields and canebrakes. Before the massacre, the majority of Slocum's several