The Easter Sunday Massacre. Better known as THE COLFAX MASSACRE.
On Easter Sunday in 1873, The Colfax Massacre occurred, killing more than 150 African Americans. The battle-turned-massacre took place in the small town of Colfax, Louisiana as a clash between blacks and whites. The massacre took place due to racial tensions following the Louisiana governor’s race of 1872. While the Republicans won the contest and retained control of the state, white Democrats, angry over the defeat, vowed revenge. In Colfax Parish (county) as in other areas of the state, they organized a white militia to directly challenge the mostly black state militia under the control of the governor. Colfax Parish reflected the political and racial divide in Louisiana. Its 4,600 voters in the 1872 election were split between approximately 2,400 hundred mostly black Republican voters and 2,200 white Democratic voters. On March 28, local white Democratic leaders called for armed supporters to help them take the Colfax Parish Courthouse from the black and white GOP officeholder