A Massacre In Memphis Summary

In 1866, one year following the civil war, Memphis broke out suddenly and dramatically with a three-day outbreak of racial violence. This included the whites rioting through neighborhoods that consisted of black people. Forty-six freed people were murdered by the moment the fires destroying black churches and schools had been put out. Congress was irate at the fact white opposition in the conquered South initiated what was called the Radical Reconstruction. This was a policy put in place to safeguard the freedom of the region’s blacks. Also in 1866, Memphis sustained four years of employment to Federal troops which naturally generated animosity. Some of the units consisted of African American troops whose claimed undisciplined conduct caused raging conflict among the white old citizens of Memphis. The white Northerners, referred to as Yankees in this book, that paraded into the city of Memphis at the end of the civil war …show more content…
Stephen V. Nash, author of this book, makes it evident that this was clearly a race riot. So, For three days, whites with the acceptance and some involvement of municipal police, assaulted and murdered blacks, raped women and burned black schools and churches. Ash also displays how the revelations of a future congressional investigation created rage in the North and helped Radical Republicans form a solid Reconstruction policy. A Massacre in Memphis is a condensed and entertaining account of the devastating acts that occurred in this southern city. The events that took place in this book seems to not be mentioned amongst the important events that took place in American History. This book is structured into three parts that distinctively shows the main population groups back then that occupied Memphis. The population consisted of the Yankees, the rebels, the irish and the blacks of post-civil war Memphis. Other sections of the book include a timeline of the massacre itself and a study of the massacre’s