Yesterday, Behind The Numbers: 38 Died Asking for the Ballot — New Orleans blackhistory onthisday [xb5dd3rNyag]
July 30, 1866. Delegates met at the Mechanics Institute in New Orleans to win Black men the vote — Louisiana's constitution denied them the ballot, and the state's Black Codes had stripped away what little the war had won. Among the convention's supporters were two hundred Black veterans of the Union Army, and marchers came to the hall in solidarity. A white mob that included many Confederate veterans attacked the marchers, then stormed the hall itself. Thirty-five Black marchers were killed, with three white allies beside them, and about one hundred more Black marchers were injured. They had come to ask for the ballot. One story from our history, every single day. #OnThisDay #BlackHistory #AmericanHistory #History Source: Equal Justice Initiative