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

"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 attempts by freedmen to assert their new rights, killed more than sixty African Americans who had occupied a courthouse.

Seeking justice for the slain, one brave U.S. attorney, James Beckwith, risked ...