1–3 May 1866
Racial violenceBook sources
White mobs and police attack Memphis’s Black community
Memphis, Tennessee
White attackers, including police, killed Black residents and burned homes, churches and schools in Memphis. The violence exposed the vulnerability of freedpeople and Black institutions after emancipation.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
This was an attack on a community, not simply a confrontation between soldiers. No precise death toll is asserted here.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 9, pp. 203; supplied print pages, edition/year unidentified
- National Park Service: Reconstruction violence in Memphis and New Orleans ↗