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Colfax Black Community

Colfax, Grant Parish, Louisiana · South Central

Black Political and Agricultural Community

MassacrePolitical Coup

Categories: Racial Massacre & Mob Destruction · Black Landownership Lost or Displaced

What was built

Established or development period
1865–1873
Peak period
1868–1873
Who built the community
Freedmen of Grant Parish, many formerly enslaved on surrounding plantations, who organized politically and took up Reconstruction offices.
Black population
Grant Parish held a substantial Black majority in the surrounding countryside.
Businesses
Not yet documented
Financial institutions
Not yet documented
Churches
Freedmen's churches and schools organized after emancipation.
Schools
Not yet documented
Hospitals
Not yet documented
Newspapers
Not yet documented
Entertainment & cultural institutions
Not yet documented
Other community institutions
Black Republican officeholders, a state militia company and freedmen's political organizations.
Black land & property ownership
Limited Black landownership; most families farmed as tenants or laborers.
Economic significance
A Black political majority controlling parish offices during Reconstruction.

What happened

What happened?
On Easter Sunday, April 13, 1873, a white paramilitary force attacked Black freedmen and militia defending the Grant Parish courthouse, burned the building and executed dozens of prisoners after they surrendered.
Trigger or precipitating event
A disputed 1872 Louisiana gubernatorial and local election, and Black Republicans' occupation of the courthouse to hold their offices.
Underlying historical context
White Leagues and paramilitary campaigns to overturn Reconstruction governments across Louisiana.
Method of destruction / displacement
Massacre · Political Violence · Arson
Date or period of destruction
April 13, 1873
Confirmed / documented deaths
At least 60–70 Black men confirmed killed, many after surrendering; 3 white deaths.
Estimated deaths
Estimates range from roughly 62 to 150. SOURCES DIFFER.
People displaced
Black political participation in the parish collapsed; families fled the immediate area.
Homes destroyed
Not yet documented
Businesses destroyed
Not yet documented
Acres or property lost
Not yet documented

Afterward

What happened to the land?
Political and economic control of Grant Parish passed entirely to white landholders.
Was compensation paid?
None. Convictions were overturned in United States v. Cruikshank (1876).
Was the community rebuilt?
No
What was rebuilt?
Not yet documented
Destroyed or displaced again?
Not yet documented
Second displacement date
Not yet documented
Second displacement cause
Not yet documented
What exists there today?
The courthouse site, a long-standing state marker calling the massacre a 'riot' that has been widely contested, and a 2021 corrective marker effort.
Descendant, reparation & restoration efforts
Descendant-led commemoration, historical-marker revision campaigns and scholarly reexamination.
Historical significance
Produced United States v. Cruikshank, which gutted federal enforcement of Black civil rights and cleared the path for Jim Crow.

Sources

  • Source lookup

    United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 (1876)

    Find
  • Book or scholarly work

    LeeAnna Keith, The Colfax Massacre (Oxford University Press, 2008)

    Find
  • Source lookup

    Charles Lane, The Day Freedom Died (Henry Holt, 2008)

    Find
  • Primary record

    Louisiana State Archives and congressional Reconstruction testimony

    Find

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Last verified: 2026-09-20. This is a living historical collection. Additional communities and documentation will be added as research and verification continue.