Black History Month 2024

'voting' - 9 results

New Orleans Massacre of 1866



New Orleans, Louisiana - On Monday, local police and other whites killed 34-50 Black Americans and injured another 150. The race riot happened in one day.

By 1864, the American Slavery War ended for Louisiana. On May 27th, 1864, Louisiana created a new constitution. It promised Black Americans, such as soldiers, land owners, and those who were literate, the right to vote.

On April 11th, 1865, Lincoln promised all Black Americans the right to vote. Lincoln's killer, John Wilkes Booth, was at the speech. Booth killed Lincoln 4 days later.

Black codes followed Lincoln's death. These limited the rights of Black Americans in Louisiana and other Southern states. This increased hostility toward Black Americans in Louisiana.

May 1st to 3rd, whites massacred Black Americans in Memphis, sparked by white police violence. This was fresh in the mind in New Orleans, as a constitutional convention was held July 27th.

Ex-Confederate soldiers, led by New Orleans Sheriff Harry T. Hays, disrupted the convention. It was moved to July 30th.

At 12:00 p.m. (noon), July 30th, the convention was held. A crowd of white opponents waited outside. 200 freedmen (mostly veterans) paraded to the convention in support.

The freedmen neared the convention. The opposition bothered the freedmen more the closer they got to the convention. Sheriff Hays arrived and began to fire blindly into the crowd. Many Black Americans died. Others ran into the Mechanics Institute.

General Absalom Baird wired the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton.

Baird said the following 'It was no riot. It was an absolute massacre by the police, which was not excelled in murderous cruelty by that of Fort Pillow. It was a murder which the Mayor and police of the city perpetrated without the shadow of a necessity.'

This massacre and the one in Memphis, May 1st-3rd, led to Reconstruction policies of the former Confederate South.


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Opelousas Massacre



Opelousas, Louisiana - Whites rampaged through the area and killed 150 people because Black Americans voted. A white supremacist group, called Knights of the White Camelia began the violence.

Source:

Opelousas Massacre


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St. Bernard Parish Massacre



St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana - Whites went on a multi-day killing spree of Black Americans. It began due to white fear that Black American voters chose candidates that did not support white supremacy. Whites killed dozens of Black Americans. There were possibly more than 100 killed.

Source:

St. Parish Massacre


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The Colfax Massacre



Colfax, Louisiana - Whites killed 150 Black Americans at random because Republicans won control of the state government in the 1872 elections.


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Vicksburg Massacre



Vicksburg, Mississippi - Whites killed dozens (possibly hundreds) of Black Americans to remove a Black American man as sheriff, Peter Crosby.

No white was prosecuted, investigated, nor punished.

Source:

Daily Alta California, Volume 26, Number 9029, 21 December 1874

1874 Vicksburg Massacre News Article

1874 Vicksburg Massacre


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Deacons for Defense



Bogalusa, Louisiana - The first chapter, of the Deacons for Self Defense was formed. The Deacons for Self-Defense was started in November, 1964, in Jonesboro, Louisiana. However, the first chapter started on this day.

This was not the first armed Black American self-defense group, in the United States. But, it was one of the most prominent of the Black Rights period. Twenty (20) other chapters came later, in Mississippi and Alabama.

The goal of the group was to protect Black Rights activists and their families. The Ku Klux Klan and white vigilantes were the worst threats. Police workers were just as bad, but had state power behind them.


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Third Selma March



Selma, Alabama - A third Selma march began. It was to end in Montgomery, the state capitol.. It began at Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Thousands began the march.

Unlike the earlier Selma marches, the march itself was peaceful. It had the support of President Johnson and military protection. More than 20,000 took part.

After the march, Viola Liuzzo was killed, by the KKK. She came from Detroit to join the march. As she and a Black American teenager drove marchers back to Selma, the KKK shot, into the car.

Liuzzo was killed by the gunfire. Le Roy Moton, who was in the car with her, was unharmed. He was nineteen (19) years of age. This helped push whites to pass the voting Rights Act of 1965.

Source:

Selma Marches


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Origin of the Black Panther



Lowndes County, Alabama - The Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) was formed. It used the black panther for its voter drives. This was an early step toward the Black Power movement, in the United States.

Some call the LCFO the first Black Panther Party since it used the black panther image. The Black Panther comic book character appeared later, July 1, 1966. The Oakland, California Black Panther Party was founded October 15, 1966.


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1965 voting Rights Act Signed



Washington, D. C. - President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the voting Rights Act of 1965.

Source:

Voting Rights Act


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