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Unpunished Murder: Massacre at Colfax and the Quest for Justice
The riveting story of how the Supreme Court turned a blind eye on justice, stripped away the equal rights promised to all Americans, and ushered in the era of Jim Crow. On Easter Sunday of 1873, just eight years after the Civil War ended, a band of white supremacists marched into Grant Parish, Louisiana, and massacred over 100 unarmed African Americans. The court case that followed reached the highest court in the land. Yet, following one of the most ghastly incidents of mass murder in American history, not one person was convicted.The opinion issued by the Supreme Court in US v. Cruikshank set in motion a process that would help create a society in which black Americans were oppressed and denied basic human rights -- legally, according to the courts. These injustices paved the way for Jim Crow and would last for the next hundred years. Many continue to exist to this day.In this compelling and thoroughly researched volume for young readers, Lawrence Goldstone traces the evolution of the law and the fascinating characters involved in the story of how the Supreme Court helped institutionalize racism in the American justice system.
288 pages, Paperback
First published September 11, 2018
20 people are currently reading
966 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Goldstone
45 books199 followersLawrence Goldstone is the author of fourteen books of both fiction and non-fiction. Six of those books were co-authored with his wife, Nancy, but they now write separately to save what is left of their dishes.
Goldstone's articles, reviews, and opinion pieces have appeared in, among other publications, the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Hartford Courant, and Berkshire Eagle. He has also written for a number of magazines that have gone bust, although he denies any cause and effect.
His first novel, Rights, won a New American Writing Award but he now cringes at its awkward prose. (Anatomy of Deception and The Astronomer are much better.)
Despite a seemingly incurable tendency to say what's on his mind (thus mortifying Nancy), Goldstone has been widely interviewed on both radio and television, with appearances on, among others, "Fresh Air" (NPR), "To the Best of Our Knowledge" (NPR), "The Faith Middleton Show" (NPR), "Tavis Smiley" (PBS), and Leonard Lopate (WNYC). His work has also been profiled in The New York Times, The Toronto Star, numerous regional newspapers, Salon, and Slate.
Goldstone holds a PhD in American Constitutional Studies from the New School. His friends thus call him DrG, although he can barely touch the rim. (Sigh. Can't make a layup anymore either.) He and his beloved bride founded and ran an innovative series of parent-child book groups, which they documented in Deconstructing Penguins. He has also been a teacher, lecturer, senior member of a Wall Street trading firm, taxi driver, actor, quiz show contestant, and policy analyst at the Hudson Institute.
He is a unerring stock picker. Everything he buys instantly goes down.
Goldstone's articles, reviews, and opinion pieces have appeared in, among other publications, the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Hartford Courant, and Berkshire Eagle. He has also written for a number of magazines that have gone bust, although he denies any cause and effect.
His first novel, Rights, won a New American Writing Award but he now cringes at its awkward prose. (Anatomy of Deception and The Astronomer are much better.)
Despite a seemingly incurable tendency to say what's on his mind (thus mortifying Nancy), Goldstone has been widely interviewed on both radio and television, with appearances on, among others, "Fresh Air" (NPR), "To the Best of Our Knowledge" (NPR), "The Faith Middleton Show" (NPR), "Tavis Smiley" (PBS), and Leonard Lopate (WNYC). His work has also been profiled in The New York Times, The Toronto Star, numerous regional newspapers, Salon, and Slate.
Goldstone holds a PhD in American Constitutional Studies from the New School. His friends thus call him DrG, although he can barely touch the rim. (Sigh. Can't make a layup anymore either.) He and his beloved bride founded and ran an innovative series of parent-child book groups, which they documented in Deconstructing Penguins. He has also been a teacher, lecturer, senior member of a Wall Street trading firm, taxi driver, actor, quiz show contestant, and policy analyst at the Hudson Institute.
He is a unerring stock picker. Everything he buys instantly goes down.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
July 20, 2018
I received a copy of this book a few days ago from the publisher and, having a vacation day, sat down to check it out. I love history, especially Southern history and the Civil War. I studied it in college, as a matter of fact, but nothing prepared me for what I was reading in this book. Mind you, I am aware of the lynchings, and the Tulsa massacre, but really didn't have a lot of details for many of the atrocities.
Lawrence Goldstone's book is excellent in that it covers not only the Massacre at Colfax, but the history of the U.S. that led up to it. I never really learned details of the founding of the KKK until I read this book, or how politicians and politics worked during the 1800's. It was a real eye opener, a very informative story. It pulled me right in and I read it cover to cover rather quickly as it's not a very long book and though it's not an easy read, with the brutality, it can be read in an afternoon. The story will stay with you much longer, I suspect, as it's given me lots to think about...
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair review.
Lawrence Goldstone's book is excellent in that it covers not only the Massacre at Colfax, but the history of the U.S. that led up to it. I never really learned details of the founding of the KKK until I read this book, or how politicians and politics worked during the 1800's. It was a real eye opener, a very informative story. It pulled me right in and I read it cover to cover rather quickly as it's not a very long book and though it's not an easy read, with the brutality, it can be read in an afternoon. The story will stay with you much longer, I suspect, as it's given me lots to think about...
I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair review.
March 29, 2018
Richie’s Picks: UNPUNISHED MURDER: MASSACRE AT COLFAX AND THE QUEST FOR JUSTICE by Lawrence Goldstone, Scholastic Focus, September 2018, 288p., ISBN: 978-1-338-23945-4
“...it now appears that not a single colored man was killed until all of them had surrendered to the whites...when over 100 of the unfortunate negroes were brutally shot down in cold blood. It is understood that another lot of negroes was burned to death in the Court-house when it was set on fire.”
--front page of The New York Times, April 17, 1873
“No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
--from the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Nominally, UNPUNISHED MURDER is a piece of narrative nonfiction for tweens and teens about a little-known massacre of a hundred and fifty black people in Louisiana in 1873. Despite an ensuing court case going all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, those responsible for the slaughter were not punished.
Of course, one could fill a library with books about all the atrocities perpetrated or condoned by the federal and state governments over the course of American history.
More importantly, UNPUNISHED MURDER is an overview of U.S. Constitutional history through the country’s first century, an exploration of figures and events that led to the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and a recounting of how this amendment was eviscerated for generations through atrocious Supreme Court decisions.
If you’ve studied the modern civil rights movement and observed the racial discrimination that still exists today in America, you might wonder how the Fourteenth Amendment ever got ratified. You might wonder why, 150 years later, there are still battles over providing the protections of this amendment to all Americans.
The Fourteenth Amendment became part of the law of the land against the wishes of southern white supremacists who had recently fought a war for “states rights” (a.k.a. slavery). To understand how the federal government successfully forced ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment is to recognize that a large portion of white America never accepted the equality of black people and white people. Generation after generation, southern whites have devised strategies to ensure continued unequal treatment of black citizens.
That tradition began as soon as slaves were emancipated. Black Codes, legislated by southern states at the end of the Civil War, legalized racism and segregation. Racist southerner Andrew Johnson from Tennessee, who became president upon President Lincoln’s assassination, favored letting the defeated states do what they wanted.
But President Johnson soon had to battle with a group of congressmen, dubbed the Radical Republicans, who were determined to provide truly equal rights to the newly-freed slaves. The centerpiece of their work was the proposed Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
Enactment of constitutional amendments requires ratification by three-fourths of the states. How could the Radical Republicans get the racist state governments of the South to ratify the amendment?
“Radicals came up with a workable--and likely illegal--solution. Confederate states would only be allowed to rejoin the Union if they ratified the Fourteenth Amendment. All that was left was to make sure that governments of those states would be willing to agree to an amendment that ensured equal rights and, almost certainly, gave African-American men the ability to vote. Equally important for the Radicals, the congressmen who would be seated from the readmitted South must be willing to vote to support their program for Reconstruction, which white supremacist state legislatures surely would not. And they did not. Of all the secessionist states, only Tennessee voted to ratify the amendment--which must have infuriated Andrew Johnson. The solution was clear. If one could not persuade sitting governments to accept the amendment, it would be necessary to change the governments.”
This change of governments was accomplished through Congressional enactment of statutes by which federal troops were sent into the Confederate states. The military oversaw the registering of black men to vote and oversaw the denial of voting rights to rebels--white men who fought for the South. This led to the election of Republican-majority state legislatures in the rebel states. These new legislatures ratified the Fourteenth Amendment.
UNPUNISHED MURDER is overflowing with fascinating historical detail. For instance, I learned as a child that in the 1876 presidential election, Democrat Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College vote to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. What they didn’t teach us is that Tilden won the popular vote due to intimidation against southern blacks; that a stalemate developed between the parties; and that the stalemate was resolved through a compromise. The compromise stipulated that Hayes would become president in exchange for the effective end of Reconstruction. Republicans pulled federal troops out of the south, which led to the abuse and intimidation of southern blacks, and to the maltreatment of generations of their descendents.
There is much to learn, ponder, and debate in this well-researched, well-crafted read!
UNPUBLISHED MURDER is a debut title in Scholastic’s new Focus imprint. Focus will publish narrative nonfiction for tweens and teens that encourages readers to “draw connections between historical events and contemporary issues.” I look forward to the rest of their maiden list.
UNPUNISHED MURDER is a must-have for middle schools and high schools.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
“...it now appears that not a single colored man was killed until all of them had surrendered to the whites...when over 100 of the unfortunate negroes were brutally shot down in cold blood. It is understood that another lot of negroes was burned to death in the Court-house when it was set on fire.”
--front page of The New York Times, April 17, 1873
“No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
--from the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Nominally, UNPUNISHED MURDER is a piece of narrative nonfiction for tweens and teens about a little-known massacre of a hundred and fifty black people in Louisiana in 1873. Despite an ensuing court case going all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, those responsible for the slaughter were not punished.
Of course, one could fill a library with books about all the atrocities perpetrated or condoned by the federal and state governments over the course of American history.
More importantly, UNPUNISHED MURDER is an overview of U.S. Constitutional history through the country’s first century, an exploration of figures and events that led to the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and a recounting of how this amendment was eviscerated for generations through atrocious Supreme Court decisions.
If you’ve studied the modern civil rights movement and observed the racial discrimination that still exists today in America, you might wonder how the Fourteenth Amendment ever got ratified. You might wonder why, 150 years later, there are still battles over providing the protections of this amendment to all Americans.
The Fourteenth Amendment became part of the law of the land against the wishes of southern white supremacists who had recently fought a war for “states rights” (a.k.a. slavery). To understand how the federal government successfully forced ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment is to recognize that a large portion of white America never accepted the equality of black people and white people. Generation after generation, southern whites have devised strategies to ensure continued unequal treatment of black citizens.
That tradition began as soon as slaves were emancipated. Black Codes, legislated by southern states at the end of the Civil War, legalized racism and segregation. Racist southerner Andrew Johnson from Tennessee, who became president upon President Lincoln’s assassination, favored letting the defeated states do what they wanted.
But President Johnson soon had to battle with a group of congressmen, dubbed the Radical Republicans, who were determined to provide truly equal rights to the newly-freed slaves. The centerpiece of their work was the proposed Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
Enactment of constitutional amendments requires ratification by three-fourths of the states. How could the Radical Republicans get the racist state governments of the South to ratify the amendment?
“Radicals came up with a workable--and likely illegal--solution. Confederate states would only be allowed to rejoin the Union if they ratified the Fourteenth Amendment. All that was left was to make sure that governments of those states would be willing to agree to an amendment that ensured equal rights and, almost certainly, gave African-American men the ability to vote. Equally important for the Radicals, the congressmen who would be seated from the readmitted South must be willing to vote to support their program for Reconstruction, which white supremacist state legislatures surely would not. And they did not. Of all the secessionist states, only Tennessee voted to ratify the amendment--which must have infuriated Andrew Johnson. The solution was clear. If one could not persuade sitting governments to accept the amendment, it would be necessary to change the governments.”
This change of governments was accomplished through Congressional enactment of statutes by which federal troops were sent into the Confederate states. The military oversaw the registering of black men to vote and oversaw the denial of voting rights to rebels--white men who fought for the South. This led to the election of Republican-majority state legislatures in the rebel states. These new legislatures ratified the Fourteenth Amendment.
UNPUNISHED MURDER is overflowing with fascinating historical detail. For instance, I learned as a child that in the 1876 presidential election, Democrat Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College vote to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. What they didn’t teach us is that Tilden won the popular vote due to intimidation against southern blacks; that a stalemate developed between the parties; and that the stalemate was resolved through a compromise. The compromise stipulated that Hayes would become president in exchange for the effective end of Reconstruction. Republicans pulled federal troops out of the south, which led to the abuse and intimidation of southern blacks, and to the maltreatment of generations of their descendents.
There is much to learn, ponder, and debate in this well-researched, well-crafted read!
UNPUBLISHED MURDER is a debut title in Scholastic’s new Focus imprint. Focus will publish narrative nonfiction for tweens and teens that encourages readers to “draw connections between historical events and contemporary issues.” I look forward to the rest of their maiden list.
UNPUNISHED MURDER is a must-have for middle schools and high schools.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
August 8, 2018
Thank you to the @kidlitexchange network for the review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.--- Unpunished Murder is a nonfiction book by Lawrence Goldstone that informs about the massacre of about 100 black citizens at Colfax. Surprisingly, even though 9 culprits were identified, all of the white men accused of these crimes were allowed free. This book will be published on August 28, but halfway through reading it I knew I had to save it to my Amazon wishlist. What is most impressive about this nonfiction account is just how organized and clear it is. Goldstone starts off by telling the reader about this shocking event that not many American citizens know about, and then he seamlessly rewinds and takes you back to the moment where such an event can be traced back to in history: the creation of the United States Constitution, particularly the 14th and 15th amendments. All of the details, dates, and facts from this period of history have the potential to make this a very confusing book, but Goldstone lays everything out and outlines it in such a way that you can see how such a crime could go unpunished in the United States at this time well before the author delivers the explanation himself. The book includes several photos and quotes that are incorporated throughout each section. I personally feel that this book and a study of this moment in history should be included in more history curriculums. This book would make an excellent companion or recommended reading in any United States History or Civics course. Because some background knowledge of the Constitution and the events of the Civil War are helpful, as well as some of the more graphic violence that is included, I think this book would be most appropriate for middle school readers (or high schoolers/adults looking to understand more about the history of institutional racism in our country). I could definitely see the 7th/8th graders at my school being able to engage in some interesting discussions about this book using their knowledge from their Civics course.
June 21, 2020
Unpunished Murder: Massacre at Colfax and the Quest for Justice by Lawrence Goldstone, 263 pages. NON-FICTION Scholastic, 2018. $18.
Content: Language: PG (1 swear); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG-13.
BUYING ADVISORY: HS – ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Covering the time period from the conclusion of the Civil War, the handling of the Emancipation Proclamation to the efforts made for Reconstruction, this history concentrates on the court systems interpretation of freedom and justice and its effects on African Americans in the U.S. A violent mass murder in Colfax, Louisiana in 1873, left at least one hundred African Americans dead at the hands of white supremacists. When justice was attempted in the courts, multiple times, judges changed the interpretation of freedom for African Americans in the South for the next hundred years.
The Reconstruction period was barely mentioned when I went to high school and it was always explained as a complicated time, so I feel like this book filled a historical gap in my education. The author provides history leading up to the Colfax conflict, including human interest stories, and then lays out the proceeding consequences and judicial cases and the pacing was well done. The intended audience does seem to lean towards older readers, but I think teachers would benefit the most from this book. The violence is a massacre, it’s not gratuitous but it is upsetting.
Reviewer, C. Peterson
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2020...
Content: Language: PG (1 swear); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG-13.
BUYING ADVISORY: HS – ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Covering the time period from the conclusion of the Civil War, the handling of the Emancipation Proclamation to the efforts made for Reconstruction, this history concentrates on the court systems interpretation of freedom and justice and its effects on African Americans in the U.S. A violent mass murder in Colfax, Louisiana in 1873, left at least one hundred African Americans dead at the hands of white supremacists. When justice was attempted in the courts, multiple times, judges changed the interpretation of freedom for African Americans in the South for the next hundred years.
The Reconstruction period was barely mentioned when I went to high school and it was always explained as a complicated time, so I feel like this book filled a historical gap in my education. The author provides history leading up to the Colfax conflict, including human interest stories, and then lays out the proceeding consequences and judicial cases and the pacing was well done. The intended audience does seem to lean towards older readers, but I think teachers would benefit the most from this book. The violence is a massacre, it’s not gratuitous but it is upsetting.
Reviewer, C. Peterson
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2020...
October 8, 2018
This wasn't the easiest book to read for several reasons. First, massacres are never easy to read about because of their appalling nature. Second, justice was never received. And third, the court system allowed the murderers to go free, but basically opened the door to allowing them to treat black Americans however they wanted. Goldstone starts by explaining what happened the day the massacre occurred. He then flashes back to the end of the Civil War and the events that led up to that horrible day. He covers the condition the South was left in after the war and the racist attitudes that still ran hot. He talks about the fighting between the Radical Republicans who controlled Congress and President Andrew Johnson and how that led to the passing of the 14th and 15th Amendments and Reconstruction, all of which was designed to make black Americans equal citizens in the eyes of the law. The problem was, too many people, both north and south, didn't want equality. And while Reconstruction forced the South to go along with it for awhile, eventually Reconstruction ended leaving racism alive and well. Goldstone returns to Grant Parish and provides the background that explains why the massacre (or the riot as the murderers called it) occurred. He then moves on to the efforts made to bring the murderers to justice. He provides a fascinating explanation for what happened and why it happened and the reasons the Supreme Court basically said the 14th and 15th Amendments couldn't be enforced by the federal government.
Frankly, it was appalling to read of the utter unfairness of what happened and the way murderers not only went free, but were allowed to retake control of the state governments throughout the South, which directly led to the Jim Crow laws that led to so much suffering for so many black Americans. Goldstone does a good job of explaining things that are pretty complex in a way that teenage readers will be able to understand, especially those interested in politics and the court system. This book is a very important one in that it tells a story that needs to be heard, especially as it's become crystal clear that racism isn't a problem of the past.
Frankly, it was appalling to read of the utter unfairness of what happened and the way murderers not only went free, but were allowed to retake control of the state governments throughout the South, which directly led to the Jim Crow laws that led to so much suffering for so many black Americans. Goldstone does a good job of explaining things that are pretty complex in a way that teenage readers will be able to understand, especially those interested in politics and the court system. This book is a very important one in that it tells a story that needs to be heard, especially as it's become crystal clear that racism isn't a problem of the past.
November 5, 2018
In history classes in middle school and high school we spend a lot of time talking about how great America is and rightly since I'm talking about American classrooms. But rarely do we talk about the truth often very complicated and difficult to discuss. As a historian I've learned to be objective about facts, to evaluate evidence, and to consider the context of the events and people I'm studying or writing about. That skill should begin with the earliest history classes. This book by Lawrence Goldstone goes a lot way to teach those skills to students at the high school level and possibly the middle school level as well.
While not shying away from the proper terms, Goldstone takes care to explain words and phrases in simple language then expand on the complicities behind them. An example which a lot of adult need to revisit is the issue of Impeachment of government officials. While we might want facts to reign supreme that has never been the case with the one Constitutional way to remove a President from office.
The entire book looks at an event, this unpunished mass murder in Colfax Louisiana in 1873. To understand that event, Goldstone takes us back to before the Civil War and forward to not only the final legal results of the investigation into that Easter day but also takes us into the 1940s and 1950s so show us the long term impact of the massacre and the legal battles over it. No side is pure in this study because that wouldn't be reality and Goldstone shows us individuals and groups whose words and deeds led up to the slaughter of at least a 100 black men.
The text includes photographs and drawings from the decades surrounding the massacre and these may require some intervention from a teacher because some of them are racist and graphic. I'm not suggesting anyone under 18 tackle this book without a history teacher's help, indeed many ill-educated adults could use an expert to help them tackle the difficult truths in this book. In a time when violence is rearing up again for political reasons, this book is a good look back and hopefully a warning of where we may not wish to go today.
While not shying away from the proper terms, Goldstone takes care to explain words and phrases in simple language then expand on the complicities behind them. An example which a lot of adult need to revisit is the issue of Impeachment of government officials. While we might want facts to reign supreme that has never been the case with the one Constitutional way to remove a President from office.
The entire book looks at an event, this unpunished mass murder in Colfax Louisiana in 1873. To understand that event, Goldstone takes us back to before the Civil War and forward to not only the final legal results of the investigation into that Easter day but also takes us into the 1940s and 1950s so show us the long term impact of the massacre and the legal battles over it. No side is pure in this study because that wouldn't be reality and Goldstone shows us individuals and groups whose words and deeds led up to the slaughter of at least a 100 black men.
The text includes photographs and drawings from the decades surrounding the massacre and these may require some intervention from a teacher because some of them are racist and graphic. I'm not suggesting anyone under 18 tackle this book without a history teacher's help, indeed many ill-educated adults could use an expert to help them tackle the difficult truths in this book. In a time when violence is rearing up again for political reasons, this book is a good look back and hopefully a warning of where we may not wish to go today.
August 13, 2018
This fascinating story talks about the formation of the United States government via the Constitution and focuses especially on the formation and role of the Supreme Court. It also talks about racism and the role of the Supreme Court in encouraging it.
The focus of the story centers on events in Grant County, Louisiana, in 1873. More than 150 well-armed white men massacred over 100 poorly armed black men - many of whom were trying to surrender. Due to a wide variety of conditions from the woes of Reconstruction to competing political factions, none of the white men were ever convicted of the murders. In fact, a monument was erected at the site celebrating the three white men who died as heroes.
The story talks about the men who fought for civil rights for the newly freed slaves and the men who were opposed - for a variety of reasons - to granting equal rights to those former slaves. A lot of the reasons on both sides had its roots in the Constitution and questions about what rights belonged to the Federal government and which rights were reserved to the states.
The book talks about the fights to ratify the fourteen and fifteenth amendments and the work of the Supreme Court to essentially gut them. Those Supreme Court actions led to the Jim Crow laws that were major stumbling blocks to equal rights for Blacks and are still lingering today.
The book ends with a plaque put up by the state of Louisiana in put up in 1950 which commemorates the "Colfax Riot" which "marked the end of carpetbag misrule in the South." I want to know what happened next. How did we go from that sorry situation to where we are now? What was the role of the Supreme Court in the changes?
The book ends with an extensive bibliography and detailed source notes. It will contain an index not included in the ARC I read.
The focus of the story centers on events in Grant County, Louisiana, in 1873. More than 150 well-armed white men massacred over 100 poorly armed black men - many of whom were trying to surrender. Due to a wide variety of conditions from the woes of Reconstruction to competing political factions, none of the white men were ever convicted of the murders. In fact, a monument was erected at the site celebrating the three white men who died as heroes.
The story talks about the men who fought for civil rights for the newly freed slaves and the men who were opposed - for a variety of reasons - to granting equal rights to those former slaves. A lot of the reasons on both sides had its roots in the Constitution and questions about what rights belonged to the Federal government and which rights were reserved to the states.
The book talks about the fights to ratify the fourteen and fifteenth amendments and the work of the Supreme Court to essentially gut them. Those Supreme Court actions led to the Jim Crow laws that were major stumbling blocks to equal rights for Blacks and are still lingering today.
The book ends with a plaque put up by the state of Louisiana in put up in 1950 which commemorates the "Colfax Riot" which "marked the end of carpetbag misrule in the South." I want to know what happened next. How did we go from that sorry situation to where we are now? What was the role of the Supreme Court in the changes?
The book ends with an extensive bibliography and detailed source notes. It will contain an index not included in the ARC I read.
January 15, 2019
"The story of Colfax… is the story of America.” Goldstone says. Unpunished Murder: Massacre at Colfax and the Quest for Justice gives the account of the events, politics and history that lead up to the Colfax Massacre (known as the Colfax Riots by White Southerners) and its impact on America. Starting with the American Constitution’s inception, Goldstone details the events that resulted in the Massacre of more than 100 unarmed black US citizens, their unpunished murders, and the free rein of violence and abuse of power that white supremacists were allowed to inflict across the south into the 20th century. These essential details include pertinent pieces such as the Constitution, Presidents, Supreme Court Justices, the Civil War and Reconstruction. Goldstone shows how the KKK and Jim Crow became the "law of the land" throughout the south in very readable prose. He gives teen readers enough information to understand how it all transpired and the impact it continues to have on the rights of African Americans today.
Goldstone uses succinct chapters, numerous primary source documents, political cartoons and photos to enhance the story of what happened on Easter Sunday 1873 in Colfax Louisiana and its significance to this day. His comprehensive glossary and bibliography of online resources, books and articles, as well as precise notes, index and list of illustrations and photos strengthen this nonfiction book’s usefulness for student research.
Goldstone uses succinct chapters, numerous primary source documents, political cartoons and photos to enhance the story of what happened on Easter Sunday 1873 in Colfax Louisiana and its significance to this day. His comprehensive glossary and bibliography of online resources, books and articles, as well as precise notes, index and list of illustrations and photos strengthen this nonfiction book’s usefulness for student research.
December 5, 2019
Unpunished Murder: Massacre at Colfax and the Quest for Justice by Lawrence Goldstone is a book about the illegal and unrecognized massacre in Colfax. It goes deeply into detail about the upbringing of the event and the unfortunate causes that lead up to it. This book gets deeply into detail, giving a lot of information about important people and decisions. I was surprised by some of the things I learned that I hadn't previously known about or related to the main purpose of the book; such as the origin of the KKK. I've found this book to be greatly informative while staying relatively factual and when there was a share of opinion it didn't interrupt interest. At first I wasn't all that invested and found the method of writing to be frankly lacking energy but as I continued to read I became more invested. Overall, I believe this book deserves to be read and discussed; it was influential and well worded. I would recommend this to those curious not only about The Colfax Massacre, but to anyone curious of the racial tension in the U.S. during those terribly struggling years after the Civil War.
May 29, 2019
Unpunished murder: Massacre at Colfax and the quest for justice. By Lawrence Goldstone.
Goldstone has written an unflinching look at race and justice in post-Civil War America. On Easter Sunday in 1873, a group of white supremacists surrounded a church in the central Louisiana town of Colfax and set it on fire with over a hundred formerly enslaved men inside. And when the men came out and threw down their weapons in surrender, they were slaughtered where they stood. Goldman clearly outlines the political, social, and racial tensions that led to the massacre and the significance of the Supreme Court decision that allowed the men responsible for the massacre to go without punishment or penalty. The end of Radical Reconstruction in the South and the oppressive Jim Crow era of discrimination and violence that followed are depicted by the author in depth while he relates the Colfax massacre to the national chaos left in its wake. The end matter includes a glossary, bibliography, source notes, index, and illustration and photograph credits.
Goldstone has written an unflinching look at race and justice in post-Civil War America. On Easter Sunday in 1873, a group of white supremacists surrounded a church in the central Louisiana town of Colfax and set it on fire with over a hundred formerly enslaved men inside. And when the men came out and threw down their weapons in surrender, they were slaughtered where they stood. Goldman clearly outlines the political, social, and racial tensions that led to the massacre and the significance of the Supreme Court decision that allowed the men responsible for the massacre to go without punishment or penalty. The end of Radical Reconstruction in the South and the oppressive Jim Crow era of discrimination and violence that followed are depicted by the author in depth while he relates the Colfax massacre to the national chaos left in its wake. The end matter includes a glossary, bibliography, source notes, index, and illustration and photograph credits.
January 10, 2019
Although not as challenging of a read as I had thought, “Unpunished Murder: Massacre at Colfax and the Quest for Justice” literally changed my life. While I would typically find books about history boring, Goldstone’s masterful storytelling and explanations highlighted for me the root of much of the racism and oppression that is prevalent today. I find myself referencing this book almost daily.
June 11, 2020
Senators, and judges and court decisions but mostly justice, justice, justice- not served.
How ignorant I am about Reconstruction, the history of the supreme court, grrh. I thank this author profusely for using the truest, clear, plain language to describe what preceded, what unfolded and what came after. How much was undone and how much is still left to do in the 21st century. Grrh.
How ignorant I am about Reconstruction, the history of the supreme court, grrh. I thank this author profusely for using the truest, clear, plain language to describe what preceded, what unfolded and what came after. How much was undone and how much is still left to do in the 21st century. Grrh.
March 2, 2019
Goldstone’s approach to his topic is fascinating. It’s really one of the best history books I’ve read.
For the full review: https://twobookwormsblog.wordpress.co...
For the full review: https://twobookwormsblog.wordpress.co...
November 27, 2018
I learned so much from this book. But it is not easy to read, even though it was written for younger readers.
June 18, 2021
From The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...
February 17, 2021
It was really good. It really gives you an idea on the past. I recommend it for everyone.
August 6, 2018
Unpunished Murder: Massacre at Colfax and the Quest for Justice is the history of shamefully forgotten crime against humanity that led to an equally shameful Supreme Court decision that should be as vilified as Dred Scott and Plessy vs. Ferguson. On Easter Sunday in 1873 over a hundred unarmed African-Americans were slaughtered by white supremacists determined to end Reconstruction and seize political power. Shamefully, to this day, Colfax, Mississipi has a memorial honoring the murderers.
In the book, Lawrence Goldstone sets the stage from the end of the Civil War, the disgraceful Andrew Johnson presidency, and the Republicans’ rapid retreat from civil rights. There was rampant corruption and flagrant election cheating. President Grant made poor judicial appointments, seeking nonentities with few public positions in an effort to avoid conflict. White supremacists used violence and intimidation to regain power in the South. In Colfax, a black community with black elected leadership, whites came from all over to march into town and seize power. Outnumbered and out-armed, the black citizens surrendered and then were slaughtered. 3 whites were killed, at least two by friendly fire and to this day monuments stand to honor them, misnaming this massacre a riot.
Seeking justice was difficult and let to an egregious Supreme Court decision that gave the stamp of approval to vigilantism, the Klan, and racist intimidation and lynchings for years to come and eviscerating the civil rights protections in the 14th, 15th, and 16th Amendments. Incidentally, this is the same court that declared corporations were people, too, my friends.
I think Unpunished Murder tells an important story. It tackles the false narrative of Reconstruction as a corrupt failure and shows the true story that Reconstruction was abandoned to pander to white supremacy. It reveals the vicious racism and corruption that led to our government’s abject failure to meet its obligation to African Americans, it’s desertion in the face of white supremacy abandoning blacks to murder and oppression.
I also think it suffers from a failing all too common with history books for young people. For some reason, there’s this idea that shorter is better, so writers pack too many facts into too little narrative. Narrative matters and is an important part of making a story interesting and gives the story flow. History should be about the story, and here the story part is sacrificed to need to pack as many facts per page as possible. This is an interesting and important story and it’s not that I think most of the facts should have been left out. I just think they needed more connective tissue. Let the book be longer, it will be more interesting.
I can’t blame the author, though. Goldstone is writing to the expectations of teachers and publishers, the more facts per inch kind of writing that makes students think history is dull rather than exciting. In reality, history is full of stories of love, betrayal, good, evil, battles won and lost, and is every bit as exciting as anything on Game of Thrones, but these stories need the flesh of narrative to hold the bones of fact together.
Unpunished Murder will be released on August 28th. I received an ARC from the publisher through a Shelf Awareness drawing.
Unpunished Murder at Scholastic Books
Lawrence Goldstone author site
★★★
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
In the book, Lawrence Goldstone sets the stage from the end of the Civil War, the disgraceful Andrew Johnson presidency, and the Republicans’ rapid retreat from civil rights. There was rampant corruption and flagrant election cheating. President Grant made poor judicial appointments, seeking nonentities with few public positions in an effort to avoid conflict. White supremacists used violence and intimidation to regain power in the South. In Colfax, a black community with black elected leadership, whites came from all over to march into town and seize power. Outnumbered and out-armed, the black citizens surrendered and then were slaughtered. 3 whites were killed, at least two by friendly fire and to this day monuments stand to honor them, misnaming this massacre a riot.
Seeking justice was difficult and let to an egregious Supreme Court decision that gave the stamp of approval to vigilantism, the Klan, and racist intimidation and lynchings for years to come and eviscerating the civil rights protections in the 14th, 15th, and 16th Amendments. Incidentally, this is the same court that declared corporations were people, too, my friends.
I think Unpunished Murder tells an important story. It tackles the false narrative of Reconstruction as a corrupt failure and shows the true story that Reconstruction was abandoned to pander to white supremacy. It reveals the vicious racism and corruption that led to our government’s abject failure to meet its obligation to African Americans, it’s desertion in the face of white supremacy abandoning blacks to murder and oppression.
I also think it suffers from a failing all too common with history books for young people. For some reason, there’s this idea that shorter is better, so writers pack too many facts into too little narrative. Narrative matters and is an important part of making a story interesting and gives the story flow. History should be about the story, and here the story part is sacrificed to need to pack as many facts per page as possible. This is an interesting and important story and it’s not that I think most of the facts should have been left out. I just think they needed more connective tissue. Let the book be longer, it will be more interesting.
I can’t blame the author, though. Goldstone is writing to the expectations of teachers and publishers, the more facts per inch kind of writing that makes students think history is dull rather than exciting. In reality, history is full of stories of love, betrayal, good, evil, battles won and lost, and is every bit as exciting as anything on Game of Thrones, but these stories need the flesh of narrative to hold the bones of fact together.
Unpunished Murder will be released on August 28th. I received an ARC from the publisher through a Shelf Awareness drawing.
Unpunished Murder at Scholastic Books
Lawrence Goldstone author site
★★★
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
August 29, 2018
The repercussions of slavery are being rewritten... to tell the truth, not sugarcoat what happened especially with the despicable acts of plantation owners and politicians alike but also with what happened in our developing nation's court system in which decisions were made against blacks.
Using the backdrop of the Colfax Massacre in which a hundred black people were massacred and no one was punished (and where the history books refer to it as a "riot"), Goldstone backs up to the beginnings of our nation with various events and people.
Where it is dense in names (perfect for research and an understanding of the players in the game), it expands on "the quest for justice" when so much was wrong with the judicial system and recounts the decisions that were made and their disastrous consequences. These books are necessary and focused- throw out those textbooks are start reading these stories along with the narratives and writings included within the pages.
Using the backdrop of the Colfax Massacre in which a hundred black people were massacred and no one was punished (and where the history books refer to it as a "riot"), Goldstone backs up to the beginnings of our nation with various events and people.
Where it is dense in names (perfect for research and an understanding of the players in the game), it expands on "the quest for justice" when so much was wrong with the judicial system and recounts the decisions that were made and their disastrous consequences. These books are necessary and focused- throw out those textbooks are start reading these stories along with the narratives and writings included within the pages.
November 13, 2018
Wow, heavy read and right around election season...I can't decide if this book made me more or less depressed about the state of our nation. Sometimes I would read and think "and we rose above this to become who we are today!" and other times I would read and think "dammit, NOTHING has changed!"
Important part of American history that I had never heard about, a horrible incident that became the foundation for how the South got away with "Jim Crow" laws. They didn't just pop up without any help, the federal government - the Supreme Court decisions - created a world where they were allowed.
Even though it is written for a YA audience, I'm sure most of us adults are not familiar with this incident anymore and the way Reconstruction was taught to us probably distorted the facts that you will find in this story. I'm glad this book exists. I just hope people, teens and adults, will read it and understand why these issues of race and racism are so ingrained in our country.
Important part of American history that I had never heard about, a horrible incident that became the foundation for how the South got away with "Jim Crow" laws. They didn't just pop up without any help, the federal government - the Supreme Court decisions - created a world where they were allowed.
Even though it is written for a YA audience, I'm sure most of us adults are not familiar with this incident anymore and the way Reconstruction was taught to us probably distorted the facts that you will find in this story. I'm glad this book exists. I just hope people, teens and adults, will read it and understand why these issues of race and racism are so ingrained in our country.
March 5, 2021
This is such an important story, but also a big story. I love how Goldstone provides detailed historical context. The book is, I think, geared towards young adults. As a teacher of upperclass high schoolers, I must sadly admit that I would not recommend this book to the vast majority of that audience. It is dense and the primary hook of the story: the massacre at Colfax, is explained and told right out the gate. The rest of the book goes back in time to explain the time period in which Colfax was allowed to take place (Reconstruction) and several key court cases that established Reconstruction, the Redeemer South, and the miscarriage of justice in the Colfax court case(s).
The book is primarily an overview of how the courts shaped the oppression and racism experienced by freedmen in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. As an adult and a History teacher, I really enjoyed the book, but my rating reflects my disappointment that I would only be able to recommend this book to a very small sliver of high school students.
The book is primarily an overview of how the courts shaped the oppression and racism experienced by freedmen in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War. As an adult and a History teacher, I really enjoyed the book, but my rating reflects my disappointment that I would only be able to recommend this book to a very small sliver of high school students.
December 31, 2021
i read this i forgot to mark it as read but it was good and I think apush helped me understand it more bc its before the party switch
March 24, 2019
This is really a book about history and Constitutional law, framed by the Colfax massacre of 1873. Colfax county in Reconstruction Louisiana was made up largely of African American freed people. Their political power - and general freedom - rankled the white supremacists around them so much that they massacred about 150 people (the number is uncertain) in the Colfax county courthouse on Easter Sunday, falsely claiming that they were overcoming a "riot." While six of the perpetrators were arrested and charged, they were released because of a Supreme Court ruling (Cruikshank) that the Fourteenth Amendment did not apply federal jurisdiction to individuals, who had to be tried at the state level. State courts in Louisiana didn't convict.
A miscarriage of justice, certainly, which laid the foundation for the Klan and other white violence.
The law and the history are both very complicated, and Goldstone's book tries to explain both, but gets mired frequently in brief biographies of various justices and politicians (Here is X politician, who was born in Y and did Z). It also is tone deaf when it comes to the rights of Native Americans (mentioning very briefly the white "settlement" of the West) and of women. It's billed as a "young adult" version, but I can not imagine any young adult I know sticking with the book.
If you're really interested in Colfax, read this article from the Smithsonian magazine.
A miscarriage of justice, certainly, which laid the foundation for the Klan and other white violence.
The law and the history are both very complicated, and Goldstone's book tries to explain both, but gets mired frequently in brief biographies of various justices and politicians (Here is X politician, who was born in Y and did Z). It also is tone deaf when it comes to the rights of Native Americans (mentioning very briefly the white "settlement" of the West) and of women. It's billed as a "young adult" version, but I can not imagine any young adult I know sticking with the book.
If you're really interested in Colfax, read this article from the Smithsonian magazine.
March 11, 2019
Note: Reviewed from an ARC
This is a hard-hitting survey of civil rights in the U.S., from the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to the end of Reconstruction that came with the compromise of Rutherford B. Hayes as President in 1877. The book includes a bibliography; glossary; source notes; photo credits; and index (unseen). Additionally, black & white period photos of people and a few primary source materials break up the text.
In his first book for young readers, historian Goldstone punches them right in the gut. He opens with a five-page long prologue that describes the events of the Colfax Massacre, through the eyes of one of its few survivors. (He gives seven more pages of objective detail about the massacre later.) Goldstone races through his delivery of this survey, spending about 10 pages on each topic. In some passages, he is quite technical in discussing civil rights issues, perhaps too technical for this age group. He assumes that young people will be familiar with issues such as the 3/5th compromise and the origins of the Klan and other white supremacist groups, so he packs in the facts, wrapping it up in dry text. Often, Goldstone includes so much information and mentions so many names that it is difficult to keep them straight. I found it jarring to read so much detail about the Philadelphia World Exposition between the passage of the 14th Amendment and the start of the white supremacist movement. Many times, Goldstone spends a half a page talking about the importance of a person to the issue, however he forsakes fleshing them out with human-interest stories that make the person come alive and make them relevant to teen readers.
Although Goldstone makes some attempts to show both sides of the issues at times, the book is largely set up as history in black and white/right or wrong – no gray, no middle ground, no compassion -- pounding in his points along the way. Many times, he delivers a revisionist history of this topic based on recent scholarship. Overall, Goldstone’s tone was very judgmental in delivery, very decidedly from the Radical Republican point of view. I first began to question Goldstone’s POV as I read about Andrew Johnson. My opinion of this former president was transformed after visiting Greenville, TN and the Andrew Johnson National Park this past fall; it is decidedly different from what is presented in this book. Although I have spent most of my adult life in Ohio, I grew up in North Louisiana (driving through Colfax on my way to LSU several times each year) and knew nothing about this incident – it was not in my 1960’s Louisiana History textbooks written by white men.
Indeed, young people need to know about ugly points in U.S. history like the Colfax Massacre. We do not want to repeat this history. That said, information like this should not be delivered with a hammer as this one is. I would have a difficult time giving this book to a student to learn about this issue, as it is quick to judge people so harshly and includes titillating tidbits such as: Charles Sumner was nearly caned to death on the floor of the Senate because he denounced another senator for “forcing himself on female slaves” (ARC p.188). Maybe that type of detail is OK in books for adults, but certainly not for kids!
I hope that Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Tonya Bolden will have what I am looking for in a book for this age group.
Recommended with Reservations for grades 8-12.
This is a hard-hitting survey of civil rights in the U.S., from the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to the end of Reconstruction that came with the compromise of Rutherford B. Hayes as President in 1877. The book includes a bibliography; glossary; source notes; photo credits; and index (unseen). Additionally, black & white period photos of people and a few primary source materials break up the text.
In his first book for young readers, historian Goldstone punches them right in the gut. He opens with a five-page long prologue that describes the events of the Colfax Massacre, through the eyes of one of its few survivors. (He gives seven more pages of objective detail about the massacre later.) Goldstone races through his delivery of this survey, spending about 10 pages on each topic. In some passages, he is quite technical in discussing civil rights issues, perhaps too technical for this age group. He assumes that young people will be familiar with issues such as the 3/5th compromise and the origins of the Klan and other white supremacist groups, so he packs in the facts, wrapping it up in dry text. Often, Goldstone includes so much information and mentions so many names that it is difficult to keep them straight. I found it jarring to read so much detail about the Philadelphia World Exposition between the passage of the 14th Amendment and the start of the white supremacist movement. Many times, Goldstone spends a half a page talking about the importance of a person to the issue, however he forsakes fleshing them out with human-interest stories that make the person come alive and make them relevant to teen readers.
Although Goldstone makes some attempts to show both sides of the issues at times, the book is largely set up as history in black and white/right or wrong – no gray, no middle ground, no compassion -- pounding in his points along the way. Many times, he delivers a revisionist history of this topic based on recent scholarship. Overall, Goldstone’s tone was very judgmental in delivery, very decidedly from the Radical Republican point of view. I first began to question Goldstone’s POV as I read about Andrew Johnson. My opinion of this former president was transformed after visiting Greenville, TN and the Andrew Johnson National Park this past fall; it is decidedly different from what is presented in this book. Although I have spent most of my adult life in Ohio, I grew up in North Louisiana (driving through Colfax on my way to LSU several times each year) and knew nothing about this incident – it was not in my 1960’s Louisiana History textbooks written by white men.
Indeed, young people need to know about ugly points in U.S. history like the Colfax Massacre. We do not want to repeat this history. That said, information like this should not be delivered with a hammer as this one is. I would have a difficult time giving this book to a student to learn about this issue, as it is quick to judge people so harshly and includes titillating tidbits such as: Charles Sumner was nearly caned to death on the floor of the Senate because he denounced another senator for “forcing himself on female slaves” (ARC p.188). Maybe that type of detail is OK in books for adults, but certainly not for kids!
I hope that Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Tonya Bolden will have what I am looking for in a book for this age group.
Recommended with Reservations for grades 8-12.
September 6, 2018
Below are the many reasons why I liked reading this book:
1. The writing and language itself is clear and concise. The book was originally marketed toward 8-12 year olds. On the scholastic website, it now says that the target audience is 12-18 year olds. In either case, the language itself is clear enough to be understood by either age group. Goldstone makes a point to define any words that may be unknown, with a glossary to aid the writing. Even as an adult, I appreciated the way that his argument was logical, concise, and well explained. Perhaps for younger children, reading with a parent or someone older may help with processing the book - but that I will explain a little further below.
2. There were so many pictures and visual aids. I think the fact that this was a historical narrative nonfiction made it a little dry, but alongside the writing and glossary were pictures of the individuals in question, of the amendments - even political cartoons of the time. That helped to hold my attention and make the history written in the pages of Unpunished Murder much more real.
3. The topic itself was a very well researched and presented argument on how the Justice system in our country failed the very men that Congress was trying to protect, and how it helped to instill a new form of slavery (in all but name) throughout the Jim Crow South. As I read, I found myself shocked at how long racism persisted, and continues to persist. I couldn't believe the ways that people found to justify their intolerance of race. If you're hoping to spark a conversation with your children, or perhaps be more knowledgeable about racism in our country, this is one angle that hasn't often been discussed but needs to be. The rulings of the Supreme Court really did set our country down a long and perilous path. They say that only those who learn history can prevent it from repeating itself - I really hope that everyone takes the time to learn about this ugly part of history, and to teach their kids as well.
I didn't like however, that there were times when the names and dates all got a little jumbled together. While the language was clear, I found myself needing to write down, or backtrack, when all the names began to run together. Its understandable when speaking about history that there will be many players, and there really is no way around it, but perhaps in a book for younger students, it may have been helpful to be slower about transitioning from name to name, or perhaps a reminder of who each person is.
Regardless, read this book. Read it to your kids, to your class. Start a conversation. The atrocities of this tragic time should not continue to occur in our era. The issue of race that has been fought for over a century should no longer be an issue. Lets learn to love each other a little more. Lets try to find liberty, and justice, for all.
1. The writing and language itself is clear and concise. The book was originally marketed toward 8-12 year olds. On the scholastic website, it now says that the target audience is 12-18 year olds. In either case, the language itself is clear enough to be understood by either age group. Goldstone makes a point to define any words that may be unknown, with a glossary to aid the writing. Even as an adult, I appreciated the way that his argument was logical, concise, and well explained. Perhaps for younger children, reading with a parent or someone older may help with processing the book - but that I will explain a little further below.
2. There were so many pictures and visual aids. I think the fact that this was a historical narrative nonfiction made it a little dry, but alongside the writing and glossary were pictures of the individuals in question, of the amendments - even political cartoons of the time. That helped to hold my attention and make the history written in the pages of Unpunished Murder much more real.
3. The topic itself was a very well researched and presented argument on how the Justice system in our country failed the very men that Congress was trying to protect, and how it helped to instill a new form of slavery (in all but name) throughout the Jim Crow South. As I read, I found myself shocked at how long racism persisted, and continues to persist. I couldn't believe the ways that people found to justify their intolerance of race. If you're hoping to spark a conversation with your children, or perhaps be more knowledgeable about racism in our country, this is one angle that hasn't often been discussed but needs to be. The rulings of the Supreme Court really did set our country down a long and perilous path. They say that only those who learn history can prevent it from repeating itself - I really hope that everyone takes the time to learn about this ugly part of history, and to teach their kids as well.
I didn't like however, that there were times when the names and dates all got a little jumbled together. While the language was clear, I found myself needing to write down, or backtrack, when all the names began to run together. Its understandable when speaking about history that there will be many players, and there really is no way around it, but perhaps in a book for younger students, it may have been helpful to be slower about transitioning from name to name, or perhaps a reminder of who each person is.
Regardless, read this book. Read it to your kids, to your class. Start a conversation. The atrocities of this tragic time should not continue to occur in our era. The issue of race that has been fought for over a century should no longer be an issue. Lets learn to love each other a little more. Lets try to find liberty, and justice, for all.
March 4, 2020
This one was a 3.5 for me, and it broke my heart to learn about this travesty of justice. Although I lived in Louisiana for almost 25 years, I confess that I had never read, seen or heard anything about this massacre that occurred in Grant Parish in 1873, just a few years after the Civil War had ended. In many ways, this account of those events is a reframing of what took place during Reconstruction, and the politics that continued to influence laws and judicial decisions even after the war. For those today who continue to fail to understand why so many African-Americans don't trust our nation's laws or law enforcement agencies or even due process, this book provides vivid reasons for that mistrust and cynicism. Grant Parish had been formed after the war had ended in order to provide some newly-freed African-Americans with a place where they might wield their own political power. Despite the good intentions behind its formation, a group of white supremacists could not abide that freedom, resulting in the killing of more than 100 African-Americans who took refuge in the courthouse in Colfax in the parish. Despite the fact that there were witnesses and some survivors and that eventually there were trials, no one was ever punished for this slaughter. In fact, as the author makes clear, not even the Supreme Court was without culpability since the justices' ruling on the case that made its way to them allowed unfair treatment of blacks to continue, setting a precedent that would last for decades. The author presents all sorts of individuals and personalities as the story unfolds, leaving readers stunned and disappointed in the nation's leaders. I need to read more about this in order to understand how all this could have happened and nothing be done to right these wrongs. Starting with the massacre hooks readers right away, but it would have been helpful to follow the stories and know more of the background of some of those who lost their lives in Colfax.
May 24, 2021
“Unpunished Murder” offers a narrative opposite to what we have generally seen in historical non-fiction for young people. The Massacre at Colfax is an event I would venture to say most adults and no teens have heard of. Through Goldstone’s presentation, readers can see how this pivotal moment and the decisions surrounding it directly set the United States on the course to where we now find ourselves.
The book opens with a description of the massacre where white supremacists set a courthouse, in which over a hundred freedmen were located, on fire. When the men escaped the fire, they were met with deadly gun and cannon fire from the white men outside. The quest for justice took over a year and ended with no justice for these slain men. It set the precedent for systemic racism to take hold throughout the South, leading to Jim Crow. The text is supplemented with photos of historical documents and photographs.
Goldstone is a thorough and accomplished author. This book puts issues such as the origin of the KKK, vigilantism, and white supremacy into concrete perspective. However, I feel like he misses the mark just a tad in writing for young people. After presenting the account of the massacre, he goes back to explore the history that led to this event. It is not until halfway through the book that he returns to the massacre that was intended to be central to this book, continuing on with the legal battles seeking justice for this atrocity. The accounting is very complete, but arguably it provides a little too much detail.
This is a valuable book, but only those readers who are passionate about U. S. history will have the perseverance to make it through this book. But what a treat to those who do!
Back matter is extensive and includes a glossary, a very thorough bibliography, source notes, photo and illustration credits, and an index.
The book opens with a description of the massacre where white supremacists set a courthouse, in which over a hundred freedmen were located, on fire. When the men escaped the fire, they were met with deadly gun and cannon fire from the white men outside. The quest for justice took over a year and ended with no justice for these slain men. It set the precedent for systemic racism to take hold throughout the South, leading to Jim Crow. The text is supplemented with photos of historical documents and photographs.
Goldstone is a thorough and accomplished author. This book puts issues such as the origin of the KKK, vigilantism, and white supremacy into concrete perspective. However, I feel like he misses the mark just a tad in writing for young people. After presenting the account of the massacre, he goes back to explore the history that led to this event. It is not until halfway through the book that he returns to the massacre that was intended to be central to this book, continuing on with the legal battles seeking justice for this atrocity. The accounting is very complete, but arguably it provides a little too much detail.
This is a valuable book, but only those readers who are passionate about U. S. history will have the perseverance to make it through this book. But what a treat to those who do!
Back matter is extensive and includes a glossary, a very thorough bibliography, source notes, photo and illustration credits, and an index.
May 24, 2021
This book was exceptionally difficult to read due to the subject matter. However, I have persevered and managed to finish 5 days before my 9 weeks from the library (3 weeks with 2 renewals) ran out. One thing to note: While it's shelved in adult non-fiction in my library, it seems to be pretty obviously aimed at a YA audience, although I learned a lot and I'm sure that many adults would probably learn even more, since I have a pretty decent familiarity with American history and the judicial system.
While the massacre itself (the attack on the town of Colfax and horrific slaughter of anywhere from 60 to 300 - probably at least 100 - black freedmen who had surrendered and given up their weapons) is the center of the book, it actually takes up very little space, much of it being devoted to the history and events that led up to it and the search for justice afterward, which was sadly short-circuited by the Supreme Court. The deal that allowed Rutherford B. Hayes to assume the presidency in exchange for ending Reconstruction and abandoning black citizens to almost a century more of discrimination and, in many cases, terrorism, put the final nail in the coffin. I do feel that this wide scope is justified, however.
One glaring (and presumably inadvertent) omission - despite the fact that photos of the historical characters, as well as political cartoons and other illustrations, were liberally sprinkled through the book there was no photo that I could find of James Roswell Beckwith, the prosecutor who took up the case against the murderers and risked his own life in doing so, only to see it all come to naught at the hands of SCOTUS and the Republicans' (surprise!) relentless pursuit of power.
While the massacre itself (the attack on the town of Colfax and horrific slaughter of anywhere from 60 to 300 - probably at least 100 - black freedmen who had surrendered and given up their weapons) is the center of the book, it actually takes up very little space, much of it being devoted to the history and events that led up to it and the search for justice afterward, which was sadly short-circuited by the Supreme Court. The deal that allowed Rutherford B. Hayes to assume the presidency in exchange for ending Reconstruction and abandoning black citizens to almost a century more of discrimination and, in many cases, terrorism, put the final nail in the coffin. I do feel that this wide scope is justified, however.
One glaring (and presumably inadvertent) omission - despite the fact that photos of the historical characters, as well as political cartoons and other illustrations, were liberally sprinkled through the book there was no photo that I could find of James Roswell Beckwith, the prosecutor who took up the case against the murderers and risked his own life in doing so, only to see it all come to naught at the hands of SCOTUS and the Republicans' (surprise!) relentless pursuit of power.
October 30, 2025
Unpunished Murder is a nonfiction book written by Lawrence Goldstone. This book tells of the slaughter of about 100 African American civilians from a town called Colfax, Louisiana. It gives the full story from start to finish of what happened on April 13, 1873, Easter Sunday. The story of a large group of white supremacists surrounding the Colfax Courthouse, setting it on fire, and shooting and killing many unarmed black citizens. It also speaks of the aftermath and the Supreme Court case following the tragedy, almost 3 years later.
This book was full of great things, style-wise. However, there was about the same amount of not-so-amazing pieces. It was really hard to get into the book; the start was incredibly slow. There was a ton of very descriptive language and interesting facts and illustrations, but there comes a point where there’s too much going on, and it got hard for me to keep interested. There was so much information that I couldn't follow what was going on, even though the book was organized extremely well. Every chapter jumped from subject to topic and did not flow very well. The author did a really good job with having all of his sources from every chapter stated at the end of the book, though.
I would rate this book ⅗ stars. I personally could not get into it. It’s really just not what I would pick to read myself, and I think that played a big part in my thoughts on this novel. I would definitely recommend this book to people who are interested in related topics and want to learn about them on a more thorough level. All in all, there is nothing really bad about this book; it just was not my cup of tea, and I struggled to keep interest in it.
This book was full of great things, style-wise. However, there was about the same amount of not-so-amazing pieces. It was really hard to get into the book; the start was incredibly slow. There was a ton of very descriptive language and interesting facts and illustrations, but there comes a point where there’s too much going on, and it got hard for me to keep interested. There was so much information that I couldn't follow what was going on, even though the book was organized extremely well. Every chapter jumped from subject to topic and did not flow very well. The author did a really good job with having all of his sources from every chapter stated at the end of the book, though.
I would rate this book ⅗ stars. I personally could not get into it. It’s really just not what I would pick to read myself, and I think that played a big part in my thoughts on this novel. I would definitely recommend this book to people who are interested in related topics and want to learn about them on a more thorough level. All in all, there is nothing really bad about this book; it just was not my cup of tea, and I struggled to keep interest in it.
July 9, 2018
I learned an incredible amount from this book--the prologue gives you the main event, the awful massacre at Colfax, but then we flip back to the beginning of the US to see what pieces of history made this event possible. And it's really shocking. I know I learned about the Civil War and Reconstruction but not like this. Not in a way that really showed how hard it was to stitch this country back together and what insane compromises were made. I saw the way we did things then that are hurting us now, and then, you see how the Supreme Court worked then and how the opinion of one man changed our interpretation of the Constitution for 100 years. The parallels to today's government are shocking, as are the frank discussions of the wheeling and dealing in politics which are covered in much plainer language than I ever saw in a textbook. I appreciate that, because it helps to know that a lot of things set us up to make things be the way they are now.
Of course, this book is about Colfax and the murders and justice. That's all in there, but the title is a bit misleading. It's the event that starts the conversation in this book but it isn't the main focus, really. Also, if you want an ending that gives you hope, this is not the book. It's just the plain truth, which is not easy to swallow.
Of course, this book is about Colfax and the murders and justice. That's all in there, but the title is a bit misleading. It's the event that starts the conversation in this book but it isn't the main focus, really. Also, if you want an ending that gives you hope, this is not the book. It's just the plain truth, which is not easy to swallow.
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January 28, 2021From Follett: The riveting story of how the Supreme Court turned a blind eye on justice, stripped away the equal rights promised to all Americans, and ushered in the era of Jim Crow.
On Easter Sunday of 1873, just eight years after the Civil War ended, a band of white supremacists marched into Grant Parish, Louisiana, and massacred over one hundred unarmed African Americans. The court case that followed reached the highest court in the land. Yet, following one of the most ghastly incidents of mass murder in American history, not one person was convicted.
The opinion issued by the Supreme Court in US v. Cruikshank set in motion a process that would help create a society in which black Americans were oppressed and denied basic human rights -- legally, according to the courts. These injustices paved the way for Jim Crow and would last for the next hundred years. Many continue to exist to this day.
In this compelling and thoroughly researched volume for young readers, Lawrence Goldstone traces the evolution of the law and the fascinating characters involved in the story of how the Supreme Court helped institutionalize racism in the American justice system.
On Easter Sunday of 1873, just eight years after the Civil War ended, a band of white supremacists marched into Grant Parish, Louisiana, and massacred over one hundred unarmed African Americans. The court case that followed reached the highest court in the land. Yet, following one of the most ghastly incidents of mass murder in American history, not one person was convicted.
The opinion issued by the Supreme Court in US v. Cruikshank set in motion a process that would help create a society in which black Americans were oppressed and denied basic human rights -- legally, according to the courts. These injustices paved the way for Jim Crow and would last for the next hundred years. Many continue to exist to this day.
In this compelling and thoroughly researched volume for young readers, Lawrence Goldstone traces the evolution of the law and the fascinating characters involved in the story of how the Supreme Court helped institutionalize racism in the American justice system.
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