The aftermath of the Colfax Massacre

ID: 6439 ~ Source: "The Louisiana Murders - Gathering the Dead and Wounded," May 10, 1873, The Historic New Orleans Collection, Permanent Collection, https://catalog.hnoc.org/web/arena/search#/entity/thnoc-archive/1974.25.9.196/the-louisiana-murders---gathering-the-dead-and-wounded.

This file appears in: A New Orleans Story

In Colfax, Louisiana in 1873, the local Black militia stood in defense of the parish courthouse to protect their right to vote. A mob comprised of former Confederates and other white supremacists attacked and killed the freed people and members of the militia. The Colfax Massacre was another instance of racial violence that plagued Louisiana during Reconstruction.

This file appears in: A New Orleans Story

A New Orleans Story

By Lauren Smith and Erika Heppner, edited by Jessica Dauterive

The Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) case is well-known in United States history. As the Supreme Court case that established the doctrine of “separate but equal,” it ushered in the Jim Crow era of legal racial segregation and discrimination. By the…