An Absolute Massacre: The New Orleans Race Riot of July 30, 1866

By James G. Hollandsworth Jr.

Book Overview

In the summer of 1866, racial tensions ran high in Louisiana as a constitutional convention considered disenfranchising former Confederates and enfranchising blacks. On July 30, a procession of black suffrage supporters pushed through an angry throng of hostile whites. Words were exchanged, shots rang out, and within minutes a riot erupted with unrestrained fury. When it was over, at least forty-eight men--an overwhelming majority of them black--lay dead and more than two hundred had been wounded. In An Absolute Massacre, James G. Hollandsworth, Jr., examines the events surrounding the confrontation and offers a compelling look at the racial tinderbox that was the post-Civil War South.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080713029X
• ISBN13: 9780807130292
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: LSU Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.5" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A Critical Moment in History

Covering a pivitol moment in American history, 'An Absolute Massacre' is the history of the tragic riot that overtook the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1866 in which a racist pro-confederate mob attacked loyal African Americans in New Orleans. The event shocked and alarmed the northern public leading to Civil Rights bill of 1866, the sweeping Republican victories in the 1866 elections, Congressional reconstruction, and the 14th Amendment. The riot began the chain of events that culminated in the constitutional crisis of the following year, the impeachment and trial of Andrew Johnson.Well researched, well written and well worth reading.