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

by James G. Hollandsworth Jr.

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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2001

Reviews

[Sean Chick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recounts one of the saddest moments in New Orleans history in great but dry detail. Light on analysis, which would be okay if the narrative was better written.