A Massacre in Memphis: The Race Riot That Shook the Nation One Year After the Civil War
In 1866, Memphis was a powder keg. Four years of occupation by Federal troops had naturally engendered resentment. Some of the occupation units included African American troops, whose supposed “undisciplined” behavior caused seething hostility among the white “old citizens” of Memphis. Also despised were the white Northerners who flooded into the city at the conclusion of the Civil War. These included highly motivated men and women determined to help uplift emancipated slaves, as well as merchants and “carpetbaggers” out for a quick profit. The explosion came in May. Ash, professor emeritus of history at the University of Tennessee, makes it clear that this was not a “race riot.” Rather, for three days, whites, with the acquiescence and some participation by municipal police, attacked and murdered blacks, raped women, and burned black schools and churches. Ash also shows how the revelations of a subsequent congressional investigation caused outrage in the North and helped radical Republicans shape a tougher Reconstruction policy. This is a revealing account of the racist hatred and brutality that characterized the Reconstruction period. --Jay Freeman