The New Orleans Massacre, also known as the New Orleans Race Riot, occurred on July 30, 1866. While the riot was typical of numerous racial conflicts during Reconstruction, this incident had special significance. It galvanized national opposition to the moderate Reconstruction policies of President Andrew Johnson and ushered in much more sweeping Congressional Reconstruction in 1867. Continue reading Revisit: NEW ORLEANS MASSACRE (1866)
The Colfax Massacre occurred on April 13, 1873. The battle-turned-massacre took place in the small town of Colfax, Louisiana as a clash between blacks and whites. Three whites and an estimated 150 blacks died in the conflict. Continue reading Revisit: THE COLFAX MASSACRE (1873)
On July 4, two white farmers from surrounding Edgefield County, Thomas Butler and Henry Getzen, attempted to drive a carriage through the town along the main road but were obstructed by the all-black militia which was engaged in a military exercise. Although the farmers got through the military formation after an initial argument, racial tensions remained high. Continue reading Revisit: THE HAMBURG MASSACRE (1876)
The Mother’s Day Disturbance of May 11, 1969, also called the Mother’s Day Riot, is viewed by many as the turning point in Tacoma, Washington’s civil rights struggle. While Tacoma in the 1960s did not experience the violence that enflamed many northern cities, the Mother’s Day disturbance in the Hilltop community, the black ghetto of Tacoma, bore the seeds of similar frustration—a black population concentrated by residential discrimination in a deteriorating inner city neighborhood, the lack of economic opportunity and political representation, and the gulf between the promise of equal rights and the daily reality of black life. Continue reading Revisit: MOTHER’S DAY DISTURBANCE, 1969
Black Art Story 