White Supremacist Massacres

Here is a list of some of the countless white supremacist massacres of African Americans in the history of the United States. Most of these massacres were designed to suppress voting rights, land ownership, economic advancement, education, freedom of the press, and/or labor rights of African Americans. While often referred to as “race riots,” they were massacres to maintain white supremacy. (Find more massacres including those of Native Americans, Latinx, and Asian Americans.) One of the best explanations about why it is important for students to learn this history is included in the article (and related lesson) by Linda Christensen, Burning Tulsa: The Legacy of Black Dispossession. A tweet thread by historian Stephen West shows how politicians fueled hate crimes during the Reconstruction era, with parallels today. Ursula Wolfe-Rocca writes about Red Summer of 1919, Remembering Red Summer — Which Textbooks Seem Eager to Forget. We also offer a list of massacres that includes these same events and massacres in other countries. While this list includes dozens of entries, it is by no means complete.

May 31, 1921: Tulsa Massacre

In one of countless white supremacist massacres in U.S. history, white supremacists destroyed a thriving Black community in Oklahoma, known today as the Tulsa Massacre.

Jan. 1, 1923: Rosewood Massacre

White supremacists destroyed the Black town of Rosewood, Florida, and murdered many of its residents. Descendants have fought for reparations and recognition of the history.

Charles Spurgeon Rucks | Zinn Education Project

Dec. 29, 1923: Terror Attack on African Americans in Catcher, Arkansas

The Catcher “Race Riot” began in Arkansas, leading to the creation of another sundown town.

Feb. 8, 1968: Orangeburg Massacre

Two years before the Kent State murders, 28 students were injured and three were killed in Orangeburg, South Carolina — most shot in the back by the state police while involved in a peaceful protest.

June 17, 2015: Charleston Church Massacre

Nine African American churchgoers were gunned down inside a church in an act of white supremacist terrorism.

May 14, 2022: Buffalo Massacre

After posting a racist manifesto online before targeting a majority-Black neighborhood, a white supremacist killed ten people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.

May 27, 1887: Massacre at Hells Canyon

In eastern Oregon, in an area now known as Chinese Massacre Cove, a group of white horse thieves murdered 34 Chinese laborers in a brutal act of white supremacist violence in the Hells Canyon Massacre.