Robert Cwiklik, guest author, recounts how, in July 1866, New Orleans became the site of a brutal police-led riot against a constitutional convention aimed at securing Black voting rights. Following Lincoln's death, President Andrew Johnson's lenient Reco

Robert Cwiklik, guest author, recounts how, in July 1866, New Orleans became the site of a brutal police-led riot against a constitutional convention aimed at securing Black voting rights. Following Lincoln's death, President Andrew Johnson's lenient Reconstruction policy empowered former Confederates, who enacted "Black Codes" to essentially re-enslave African-Americans through vagrancy laws and labor restrictions. When unionists attempted to rewrite Louisiana's constitution to include Black suffrage, local police and white citizens opened fire on the convention-goers. The massacre resulted in at least 44 deaths, mostly Black veterans and delegates, while white casualties were largely attributed to friendly fire. This violence horrified the North, leading to a massive Republican victory in the 1866 midterm elections and providing a mandate for Radical Reconstruction. The incident highlighted the deep-seated resistance of white Southerners to the concept of racial equality and the failure of Johnson's initial approach to national healing. Sheridan's Secret Mission: How the South Won the War After the Civil War (2)