Sept. 28, 1868: Opelousas Massacre

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. 17 pages.
This role play engages students in thinking about what freedpeople needed in order to achieve—and sustain—real freedom following the Civil War. It’s followed by a chapter from the book Freedom’s Unfinished Revolution.

From the urban rebellions to the salute at the Olympics, commemorations of 1968 — a pivotal year of Black Power — have appeared in news headlines throughout this anniversary year. Yet 2018 also marks the 150th anniversary of 1868 — the height of Black Power during Reconstruction.

The Make Reconstruction History Visible project is an opportunity for students and teachers to identify and advocate for public recognition of Reconstruction history in their community and the significant accomplishments made by newly freed people and their white allies.

As part of the Teach Reconstruction campaign, this project helps students learn about this vital era in U.S. history while also playing an active role in giving visibility to an era that has been hidden or misrepresented for too long.

As African Americans marched peacefully in response to their expulsion from elected office, more than a dozen were massacred near Albany, Georgia.

The St. Bernard Parish (Louisiana) massacre of African Americans was carried out by white men to terrorize the recently emancipated voters.

A Black militia was accused of blocking a road and punished with the Hamburg Massacre. This was Reconstruction era voter suppression.

Between 30-60 striking Black Louisiana sugarcane workers were massacred.

The interracial, elected Reconstruction era local government was deposed in a coup d’etat in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Springfield Massacre was committed against African Americans by a mob of about 5,000 white people in Springfield, Illinois.

Citizens in the small, predominately African American town of Slocum, Texas, were massacred.

Two African American men were burned at the stake in Sulphur Springs, Texas.

The Bogalusa Labor Massacre was an attack on interracial labor solidarity.