Description
The Reconstruction Era was in some ways the nation’s first civil rights movement. New laws and amendments ended slavery and established citizenship and voting rights for African Americans. There was resistance to these changes, however, and acts of racial terrorism against African Americans were common during the Reconstruction Era. One of the worst episodes was the Colfax Massacre, which occurred in Louisiana in 1873. This presentation will discuss the event in-depth and explain how it presaged the end of Reconstruction.