James Beckwith and the Colfax Massacre

18.05.2008

Kevin Boyle has high praise in this week's New York Times Book Review for former TNR editor Charles Lane's new book, The Day Freedom Died. I'm currently working my way through the book and can also attest to its merit--it's a gripping account of the Colfax massacre, a seminal event in American history with which most people (including myself, before reading the book) are unfamiliar. On Easter Sunday, 1873, more than 80 black Republicans in the small town of Colfax, Louisiana, were murdered by a mob of white Democrats, the culmination of a heated dispute over who would control the state and local governments in Louisiana. The Supreme Court would later rule that federal prosecution of the offenders was unconstitutional, clearing the path to nearly a century of brutal discrimination and racial violence in the South.

The hero of Lane's book is James Beckwith, the U.S. attorney in Louisiana who defied death threats in order to prosecute the perpetrators of the Colfax massacre. (Here's a brief sketch of Beckwith's career from Lane.) Beckwith amassed such a commendable record as U.S. attorney that white-supremecist Louisiana Democrats, in exchange for allowing Republican Rutherford B. Hayes to receive their state's electoral votes (and hence the presidency) in the disputed election of 1876, made the specific demand that Beckwith be fired, in addition to the more general demand of an end to Reconstruction. Republicans were in no mood to stand up for him, since Beckwith had angered corrupt and powerful friends of President Grant by prosecuting the "Whiskey Thieves," the perpetrators of a plot to steal federal liquor tax revenues. (Incidentally, what a great name for a band!) So Beckwith was unceremoniously dumped--an episode that, among other things, reminds us of the seriousness with which we should take any attempt to fire federal prosecutors for political reasons.

Anyway, check out Boyle's review and, if you're looking for a work of history that reads like a legal thriller, pick up Lane's book. And if you happen to be in New Orleans and (like me) you enjoy visiting fancy old urban cemeteries, stop by Metairie Cemetery and pay your respects to Beckwith.

--Josh Patashnik

Posted: Sunday, May 18, 2008 10:26 PM with 3 comment(s)

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liberal reformer said:

I have seen glancing references to this massacre. I recall when Charles Lane was the editor of TNR. He is a talented writer and I look forward to reading his book. Plautus' axiom is sadly relevant to this horrific episode: - homo homini lupus, man is a wolf to man.

May 19, 2008 12:37 AM

sdemuth said:

I would recommend in addition to Lane's book, "Slavery by Another Name" by Douglass Blackmon, which describes the near-concentration-camp like "slave" labor of the early 20th century penal system in the South, that sold black prison labor under appalling conditions to farms and industry in the South.

I think these histories are an essential step in closing the book of the past on American race relations. To me, they serve two purposes: for all of us, they give us an essential insight to what the nation must own up to in our history. And again, understanding these things adds important perspective to the remaining problems of racism in the US - by understanding how far we've come - for which one needs to know from where we came - both black and white Americans can derive genuine confidence that the past is not our destiny.

I highly applaud both these historians.

May 19, 2008 8:54 AM

cspencef said:

Quote:

"Republicans were in no mood to stand up for him, since Beckwith had angered corrupt and powerful friends of President Grant by prosecuting the "Whiskey Thieves," the perpetrators of a plot to steal federal liquor tax revenues. (Incidentally, what a great name for a band!) "

So now you're doing Dave Barry's work for him?

Anyway, this is, sadly, just one of who knows how many such incidents of human inhumanity littered across forgotten backwaters of American history. One can only hope that shining a light on these dank corners of history will serve to ensure that, as sdemuth so eloquently puts it, "the past is not our destiny." If only more folks actually read history...

May 19, 2008 5:38 PM