No One Was Ever Charged: July 30, 1866
My “Stories about Black History”and “Ten Things Your Child Should Know (Pre-K-5th)” are available in ebook and paperback forms.
In December of 1863, Lincoln issued a Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction which gave really an olive branch to Confederate states that wished to rejoin the Union, even though the Civil War wasn’t quite over, yet. This proclamation allowed for the consideration of readmission to take place if ten percent of a state’s voters took an oath of loyalty to the Union and if other conditions were met, namely the abolition of slavery and respect for the laws of the United States.
This proclamation allowed for these rebellious states to construct a constitution and set of laws, similar to the ones they had in place before their rebellion—with the exception of laws that might be contrary to the laws passed by the United States. in relation to slavery or any other duly passed law.
Arkansas and Louisiana both took Lincoln up on this offer and in 1864 Louisiana sought to draft a new state constitution to meet the guidelines set out in Lincoln’s Amnesty and Reconstruction Proclamation.
One issue was the abolishment of slavery throughout the entire state. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation only applied to areas not under Union control. So, thirteen parishes in Louisiana still had legal slavery in place, (the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans)
Some of the goals of the 1864 state constitutional convention was to abolish slavery everywhere in Louisiana, to provide for ways to integrate freed African Americans into the free population and to form a new government based on the needs and desires of the people of Louisiana.
The topic of Black people gaining the right to vote in the state came up in this convention, but it fell short of gaining support from the convention’s delegates (although it was recommended that the state legislature give Black men who were in the military and were literate the right to vote—ridiculous that there had to be qualifiers on their right to vote).
When all was said and done the state legislature did not give Black men the right to vote and they also did not setup for a school system for Black children (although it was encouraged by Lincoln in his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction Plan). This firmly demonstrated, along with other laws, that Black people were not going to be treated the same as white people in the state of Louisiana. Some people called for a reconvening of the state’s constitutional convention, to address the issue of giving Black men the right to vote.
The environment, as it related to Black people, was not only hostile when it came to voting, but it was hostile in every way possible—socially, economically, educationally, politically and religiously. These violent hostilities were reflected in laws that were passed right around this time, known as Black Codes.
For example, in St. Laudry Parish, Louisiana laws that were passed were indicative of the kinds of laws that were passed throughout the South.
From St. Laudry Parish and I quote:
That no Negro shall be allowed to pass within the limits of said parish without a special permit in writing from his employer. Whoever shall violate this provision shall pay a fine of two dollars and fifty cents, or in default thereof shall be forced to work four days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as provided hereinafter.
That every Negro found absent from the residence of his employer after 10 o’clock at night, without a written permit from his employer, shall be fined five dollars, or in default thereof, shall be compelled to work five days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided.
That no Negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house in said parish. Any Negro violating this provision shall be immediately ejected and compelled to find an employer; and any person who shall rent, or give the use of any house to any Negro, in violation of this section, shall pay a fine of five dollars for each offense.
That every Negro is required to be in the regular service of some white person, or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the conduct of said Negro.
That no public meetings or congregations of Negroes shall be allowed within said parish after sunset; but such public meetings and congregations may be held between the hours of sunrise and sunset, by the special permission in writing of the captain of patrol, within whose beat such meetings shall take place. This prohibition, however, is not intended to prevent Negroes from attending the usual church services, conducted by white ministers and priests.
That no Negro shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people, without a special permission in writing from the president of the police jury. Any Negro violating the provisions of this section shall pay a fine of ten dollars, or in default thereof shall be forced to work ten days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided.
That no Negro who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry fire-arms,
That no Negro shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within said parish without the special written permission of his employer, specifying the article of sale, barter or traffic. Any one thus offending shall pay a fine of one dollar for each offense, and suffer the forfeiture of said articles, or in default of the payment of said fine shall work one day on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided.
That any Negro found drunk within the said parish shall pay a fine of five dollars, or in default thereof shall work five days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided.
That the foregoing provisions shall apply to Negroes of both sexes (male and female).
That it shall be the duty of every citizen to act as a police officer for the detection of offenses and the apprehension of offenders…
That the corporeal punishment provided for in the foregoing sections shall consist in continuing the body of the offender within a barrel placed over his or her shoulders, in the manner practiced in the army, such confinement not to continue longer than twelve hours, and for such time within the aforesaid limit as shall be fixed by the captain or chief of patrol who inflicts the penalty.
Now imagine being a Black person, in Louisiana, in 1866 with this kind of oppression being placed upon you by police officers, citizens, and authorities and then deciding to march for the right to vote.
Well, that’s exactly what some of them did.
The call for a new constitutional convention was heeded and a new convention was scheduled in New Orleans, for July 30, 1866.
Three days before the planned constitutional convention a rally was held in New Orleans. A good number of Black people showed up at the rally to show their support for giving Black men the right to vote and for the new convention.
The mayor of New Orleans was against the rally and the constitutional convention. He planned to arrest anyone who showed up at the convention and he made his plans known to the Union General who was there at the time. There was much back-and-forth between state authorities, military leaders and Washington, but the constitutional convention would go on as planned.
The stage was set, with the mayor not approving of the convention, the Lieutenant-Governor (against the will of the Governor) supporting the mayor and the citizens of Louisiana and New Orleans not desiring to have a state where Black men could vote. The convention started at 12 o’clock noon and, while there were may have been 150 Black people inside of the Mechanics’ Institute where the meeting was being held, there were not enough appropriate members present to hold the meeting. So, they decided to adjourn until later on that evening when they could gather enough members to hold the meeting.
While all of this was going on, another group of hundreds of Black people marched to the Mechanics’ Institute, with a marching band, to show their support for the convention. They were met with violence as they got closer to the meeting hall, but they fought their way through the attacks and made it to the hall. As they approached the building, they were carrying the American flag, when a signal appeared to be given. They were rushed by citizens on the streets, by officers and firemen as fights broke out and shots were fired directly at them. They ran into the building, with the American flag, never giving it up as they fought their way through the bullets and attacks.
Once they got inside, reportedly, officers shot out the windows to the hall and fired indiscriminately into the meeting space. Many people ran for cover, but there was just no place to hide as this was an open meeting hall with very little barriers inside.
Shortly after the shooting began, a Black man waved a white handkerchief out of a window and offered to surrender, stating that they did not have any guns and were not able to defend themselves. They would be willing to submit to being arrested. But, the police took a different approach.
They stormed into the building, knowing that the people were willing to be arrested, and opened fire on those inside. They then ran back outside to reload and to prepare to go in again. The people who were left inside barricaded the door in an attempt to stop officers from coming back in to kill them, but the barricade was not effective.
Officers broke through the barricade and came back in, again, and began firing. It is important to note that these weren’t just officers committing the killings, but regular people joined them in the firing as they murdered members of the convention.
Officers directed some people to go out of specific door to get out, but, when they went out of that door, another circle of officers was there waiting for them. They opened fire on the convention goers who came out of that door and regular citizens also opened fire as people came out of the door.
Witnesses said they saw regular citizens go up to Black people who were lying on the ground, injured from gunshot wounds, and stab them to death viciously. Others took brickbats and literally bashed in people’s heads and left them there, dying, on the side of the road. Hundreds of people were terrorized, murdered or injured on that day and, as for those who committed the murders and the attacks, no one was ever charged.
Note this official communication from General Philip Henry Sheridan to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, in August of 1866:
August 1, 1866
“…the Mayor of the city, during my absence, suppressed the Convention by the use of their police force, and in so doing attacked the members of the Convention and a party of two hundred Negroes, and with fire-arms, clubs, and knives, in a manner so unnecessary and atrocious as to compel me to say that it was murder.”
General, P.H. Sheridan to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
(The New-Orleans riot : Its official history, 1866)
Copyright ©️2019 Danita Smith, Red and Black ink, LLC
References:
Fleming, Walter L., Documentary History of Reconstruction. (2 vols., Cleveland, 1906), I, 229 - 230.
Library of Congress. Abraham Lincoln papers: Series 1. General Correspondence. 1833-1916: Abraham Lincoln, Tuesday, December 08, 1863 (Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction). Accessed August 2, 2019. https://www.loc.gov/resource/mal.2849300/?sp=1&st=text&r=-0.507,-0.092,2.015,1.719,0
Reynolds, Donald E. “The New Orleans Riot of 1866, Reconsidered”, Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association. Vol. 5, No. 1 (Winter, 1964), pp. 5-27
The Law Library of Louisiana. "Black Code: After the Civil War.” Origin and Development. Last updated, July 25, 2019. Accessed August 1, 2019. https://lasc.libguides.com/c.php?g=254608&p=1697981
The New-Orleans riot : Its official history : the dispatches of Gens. Sheridan, Grant, and Baird -- the President answered. Washington, Friday, August 24, 1866. https://www.loc.gov/resource/lcrbmrp.t2602/?sp=1