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Nov. 23, 1887: Thibodaux Massacre

Between 30-60 striking Black Louisiana sugarcane workers were massacred.

Nov. 8, 1892: Massive Labor Strike in New Orleans

Thirty thousand factory and dock workers staged the 1892 New Orleans general strike.

Nov. 1, 1890: Mississippi Constitution

Mississippi adopted a state constitution with poll tax and literacy tests to roll back the gains of the Reconstruction era.

historical marker for the Coal Creek War, 1891-92

Oct. 31, 1891: Coal Creek War

A labor uprising to protest convict leasing led to the Coal Creek War.

U.S. flag raised on October 18, 1898 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Oct. 18, 1898: U.S. Troops Raised U.S. Flag Over Puerto Rico

U.S. troops raised the U.S. flag over Puerto Rico.

Nov. 10, 1898: Wilmington Massacre

The elected and interracial Reconstruction era local government was deposed in a coup d’etat in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Oct. 12, 1898: Battle of Virden

A small band of striking coal miners in southern Illinois called out Chicago coal barons and stood their ground at Virden.

Slave pension broadside | Zinn Education Project

Nov. 28, 1898: First National Convention of the Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty, and Pension Association

The Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty, and Pension Association was founded with a dual mission to organize mutual aid for its members and to pass federal pension legislation that would compensate every formerly enslaved person.

Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire

Book — Non-fiction. By Jonathan M. Katz. 2022. 432 pages.
This book traces a path from the first wave of U.S. overseas expansionism to the rise of fascism in the 1930s to the crises of democracy in our own time.

Teaching Activity by Jonathan M. Katz

Dec. 1, 1865: Shaw University Established

Shaw University was established as a co-ed campus with support from private donors and the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands. It is the second oldest HBCU in the South.

March 30, 1886: Black Civil War Veterans Secure a Cemetery in Norfolk

The West Point Cemetery in Norfolk, Virginia was established to provide a burial area for Black soldiers and sailors who fought to preserve the Union.

March 17, 1886: Carroll County Courthouse Massacre

The Carroll County Courthouse Massacre left 23 Black people dead when an armed white mob attacked an ongoing trial.

Oct. 15, 1883: Civil Rights Act of 1875 Declared Unconstitutional

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1875, forbidding discrimination in hotels, trains, and other public spaces, was unconstitutional and not authorized by the 13th or 14th Amendments of the Constitution.

Oct. 22, 1883: Frederick Douglass Denounces Supreme Court Ruling

In this speech, Frederick Douglass denounced the Civil Rights Cases of 1883, in which the Supreme Court held that the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments did not empower Congress to outlaw racial discrimination by private individuals.

Aug. 31, 1895: Julius Taylor Publishes Broad Ax

Julius Taylor founded and ran Broad Ax, a Utah-based Black newspaper which challenged commonly accepted beliefs about politics and religion at the end of the twentieth century.

June 10, 2018: Ancestral Land Returned to Ponca Tribe

Along the “Trail of Tears” in Neligh, Nebraska, a farmer signed a deed to return ancestral land to the Ponca Tribe.

A broadside distributed by Benjamin Singleton advertising migration to Kansas, 1878.

April 15, 1878: Real Estate and Homestead Association Relocated

The Real Estate and Homestead Association helped organize travel and settlement for African Americans, “Exodusters,” who fled the South because of racial violence and “bulldozing” by white supremacist groups.

April 18, 1877: Nicodemus Town Company Founded

Six Black Kansans and a white developer created the Nicodemus Town Company. With the goal of establishing an all-Black settlement on the Great Plains, W. H. Smith and W. R. Hill advertised the town as a haven for Black migrants.

Printed Edition of Our National Report Now Available

This month we released a printed edition of our national report, Erasing the Black Freedom Struggle: How State Standards Fail to Teach the Truth About Reconstruction. Thanks to the generous support of a donor, we can mail copies of the report to teacher educators, state and school district policymakers, and staff at historical societies.

Period: 1877

Nov. 23, 1887: Thibodaux Massacre

Nov. 8, 1892: Massive Labor Strike in New Orleans

Nov. 1, 1890: Mississippi Constitution

Oct. 31, 1891: Coal Creek War

Nov. 10, 1898: Wilmington Massacre

Oct. 12, 1898: Battle of Virden

Nov. 28, 1898: First National Convention of the Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty, and Pension Association

Dec. 1, 1865: Shaw University Established

March 17, 1886: Carroll County Courthouse Massacre

Oct. 15, 1883: Civil Rights Act of 1875 Declared Unconstitutional

Oct. 22, 1883: Frederick Douglass Denounces Supreme Court Ruling

Aug. 31, 1895: Julius Taylor Publishes Broad Ax

June 10, 2018: Ancestral Land Returned to Ponca Tribe

April 15, 1878: Real Estate and Homestead Association Relocated

April 18, 1877: Nicodemus Town Company Founded

Printed Edition of Our National Report Now Available

Sept. 29, 1877: City of Sanford Incorporated

July 18, 1890: George Washington Williams Pens Letter Exposing Atrocities in the Congo

Feb. 20, 1884: Indian Industrial School Opens in Nebraska