The Day Freedom Died

By Charles Lane,

Book cover of The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction

Book description

"Absorbing . . . Riveting . . . A legal thriller."―Kevin Boyle, The New York Times Book Review

Following the Civil War, Colfax, Louisiana, was a town like many where African Americans and whites mingled uneasily. But on April 13, 1873, a small army of white ex–Confederate soldiers, enraged after…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Day Freedom Died as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

In this superbly written account, Lane, a senior editor at The Washington Post, has drilled down into one of the most pivotal events that marked the waning days of Reconstruction: the massacre of perhaps as many as one hundred freedmen by an overwhelming force of heavily armed whites in rural Louisiana.

What took place at Colfax was a de facto coup. The mostly unarmed dead were citizens attempting to protect their democratically elected local Black town government; their killers were vengeful whites, many of whom were battle-tried Confederate veterans. Apart from the pounding account of the battle and massacre, I…

From Fergus' list on the bloody history of Reconstruction.

If you love The Day Freedom Died...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Want books like The Day Freedom Died?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 59 books like The Day Freedom Died.

Browse books like The Day Freedom Died

Book cover of They Left Great Marks on Me: African American Testimonies of Racial Violence from Emancipation to World War I
Book cover of The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America's Most Progressive Era
Book cover of Life of a Klansman: A Family History in White Supremacy

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,881

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like The Day Freedom Died, you might also like...

Book cover of Harry and Arthur: Truman, Vandenberg, and the Partnership That Created the Free World

Harry and Arthur by Lawrence J. Haas,

With Franklin Roosevelt’s death in April 1945, Vice President Harry Truman and Senator Arthur Vandenberg, the Republican leader on foreign policy, inherited a world in turmoil. With Europe flattened and the Soviets emerging as America’s new adversary, Truman and Vandenberg built a tight, bipartisan partnership at a bitterly partisan time…

Book cover of Who Is a Worthy Mother?: An Intimate History of Adoption

Who Is a Worthy Mother? by Rebecca Wellington,

I grew up thinking that being adopted didn’t matter. I was wrong. This book is my journey uncovering the significance and true history of adoption practices in America. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the renewed debate over women’s reproductive rights places…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in reconstruction era, the Supreme Court, and presidential biography?