While the Memphis riot was a manifestation of
the general hostility that many Southern whites
felt toward blacks during the Reconstruction era,
the New Orleans riot was related specifically to
Reconstruction politics. The reelection of the
former Confederate mayor in New Orleans, and other
signs of the increasing influence of erstwhile
Confederates, led Louisiana Governor James Madison
Wells to call a state constitutional convention.
He endorsed enfranchising black men, banning
former Confederates from voting, and other Radical
Republican goals.
On July 30, 1866, 25 delegates and 200 black
supporters assembled in New Orleans for the
constitutional convention. A fight began on the
street outside the hall between opponents and
supporters of the convention. The arrival of the
police, sympathetic to the Confederate cause, only
exacerbated the melee. General Philip Sheridan, in
charge of the Louisiana military district, was out
of the state when the riot occurred. He later
described it as "an absolute massacre."
During the New Orleans riot, 34 blacks and three
white Radicals were killed, and over 100 persons
were injured. The New Orleans riot went even
further than the Memphis riot in provoking
scornful opposition to President Andrew Johnson’s
lenient Reconstruction policies.
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