Louisiana Republicans just narrowly won the 1872 election, retaining state control. Bitter in defeat, Southern Democrats sought to enshrine white supremacy into law before Reconstruction ended their racial “superiority” for good.
Racist white Southerners fought back the only way they knew how. On Easter Sunday, April 13, 1873, more than 300 armed white men, including members of the KKK, attacked the Colfax, Louisiana, courthouse where Black militiamen and Republican officeholders were holding their ground.
As cannon fire erupted, 60 of the Black defenders fled or surrendered to their vengeful attackers. Between 50 and 150 Black people were killed. The massacre made headlines across the country.
Three members of the white mob were convicted but the Supreme Court overturned their convictions. The court erased white accountability for the death and destruction, but the lesson was loud and clear.
White supremacy won’t disappear because we ask nicely. The Colfax Massacre showed the extreme lengths white supremacists will go to thwart Black citizenship and power.