On May 1, 1866, one of the most violent racial attacks of the Reconstruction era erupted in Memphis, Tennessee. Over a three-day period, white mobs—including police officers and former Confederate soldiers—launched a brutal assault on Black freedmen and their white Unionist allies. The violence claimed the lives of 46 African Americans and 2 white civilians, left more than 70 people injured, and resulted in the burning of 90 Black homes, 12 schools, and 4 churches.

This atrocity was rooted in white resentment of Black freedom, labor competition, and the presence of Black Union soldiers in the city. The Memphis Massacre shocked the nation, spurred Congressional investigations, and influenced the passage of the 14th Amendment, which granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all persons born in the United States.