Title: The Thibodaux Massacre
Description: On November 23, 1887, white vigilantes gunned down unarmed black laborers and their families during a spree lasting more than two hours. The violence erupted due to strikes on Louisiana sugar cane plantations. Fear, rumor and white supremacist ideals clashed with an unprecedented labor action to create an epic tragedy. A future member of the U.S. House of Representatives was among the leaders of a mob that routed black men from houses and forced them to a stretch of railroad track, ordering them to run for their lives before gunning them down. According to a witness, the guns firing in the black neighborhoods sounded like a battle. Author and award-winning reporter John DeSantis uses correspondence, interviews and federal records to detail this harrowing true story.
Subjects: Homicide, Violence against, Strikes and lockouts, Agricultural laborers, Corrupt practices, Race relations, Sugarcane industry, Massacres, Social conditions, African American agricultural laborers, African Americans, Hate crimes, History, Sugar Cane Labor Strike, 1887, Violence
Places: Thibodaux (La.), Louisiana, Thibodaux
Time periods: 19th century