Freedmen massacres

United States anti-black racial pogroms (~1866–~1888)

Thomas Nast illustration of the New Orleans massacre of 1866

The Freedmen massacres were a series of attacks on African-Americans which occurred in the states of the former Confederacy during Reconstruction, in the aftermath of the American Civil War. Many of these incidents were the result of a struggle over political power, especially after the voting rights of freedmen were protected through the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[1] Robert Smalls estimated that overall 53,000 African-American were killed in post-war racial terrorism, an estimate increasingly considered plausible by historians.[2]

> With reference to emancipation, we are at the beginning of the war.

— David L. Swain, former governor of North Carolina, 1865. as quoted in Eric Foner's Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877

Anti-black violence during Reconstruction  Incident | Year | Month | State | County
or parish | Notes

|
|
|
|
|

Memphis massacre | 1866 | 05 | Tennessee | Shelby |
New Orleans massacre | 1866 | 07 | Louisiana | Orleans |
Camilla massacre | 1868 | 09 | Georgia | Mitchell |
Opelousas massacre | 1868 | 09 | Louisiana | Opelousas |
1868 St. Bernard Parish Massacre | 1868 | 10 | Louisiana | St. Bernard |
Millican massacre | 1868 | 07 | Texas | Brazos | [3]
Jackson County War | 1869 | n/a | Florida | Jackson | Ongoing for almost two years
Eutaw massacre | 1870  |  | Alabama  |  |
Meridian race riot of 1871 | 1871 | 03 | Mississippi | Lauderdale  |
Colfax massacre | 1873  | 04  | Louisiana  | Grant  |
Election Massacre of 1874 | 1874  | 11  | Alabama  | Barbour  |
Coushatta massacre | 1874  | 08  | Louisiana  | Red River  |
Vicksburg massacre | 1874  | 12  | Mississippi  | Warren  | Ongoing for almost one month[4][5]
Battle of Liberty Place | 1874  | 09  | Louisiana  | New Orleans  |
Clinton Riot | 1875  | 09  | Mississippi  | Hinds  |
Hamburg massacre | 1876  | 07  | South Carolina  | Aiken  |
Ellenton riot | 1876  | 09  | South Carolina  | Aiken  |

## North Carolina

[edit]

* "Four murders, 30 whippings, and 16 other horrible outrages" (1871, Alamance County)[6]

## See also

[edit]

* Pulaski riot
* Kirk–Holden war
* Black suffrage in the United States
* Enforcement Acts
* Freedmen's Bureau
* Ku Klux Klan § First Klan: 1865–1871
* Red Shirts (United States)
* Lynching in the United States
* Reconstruction Amendments
* Nadir of American race relations
* Wilmington insurrection of 1898
* Red Summer of 1919
* Ocoee massacre (1920)
* Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner (1964)
* Orangeburg massacre (1968)
* List of massacres in the United States
* Mass racial violence in the United States
* List of disasters in the United States by death toll

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Southern Violence During Reconstruction". American Experience (PBS). Retrieved November 29, 2020.
2. ^ Magazine, Smithsonian; Egerton, Lisa Elmaleh,Douglas. "Terrorized African-Americans Found Their Champion in Civil War Hero Robert Smalls". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2023-12-04.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
3. ^ Jones, Halle (2022-02-02). "1868 Millican Massacre: The secret left out of Brazos Valley History". 25 News KXXV and KRHD. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
4. ^ Fedell, Vera Ann (2022-12-16). "VICKSBURG FACTS: The bloody steps to the Vicksburg Massacre". The Vicksburg Post. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
5. ^ Edwards, Josh (2015-05-21). "Portrait of first black sheriff on display". The Vicksburg Post. Retrieved 2023-12-12.
6. ^ "Ku Klux Klan: Appalling Record of Murder and Crime". New York Daily Herald. 1871-03-16. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-12-12.