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Racial Violence Reported in Norfolk Newspapers, 1866

CONTENT WARNING

Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation. 

Context

Emancipation at the end of the Civil War did not bestow citizenship or legal protections on formerly enslaved men and women. Concerned that the newly freed African Americans would not be treated equally in courts of law, Congress passed a Civil Rights Act in April 1866 to define citizenship and guarantee equal rights under the law for freedpeople. President Andrew Johnson, a native of Tennessee, disapproved of the law, believing that the federal government was overstepping its jurisdiction. However, members of the “radical” wing of the Republican Party convinced enough moderate members of Congress to override the veto.

When news of the Act's passage reached Norfolk, members of the Black community organized a celebration that began with a peaceful march through the city on April 16. They were accompanied by members of the US Colored Troops (USCT), who were carrying their weapons as part of their government-issued uniforms. Anxious white residents watched as the men paraded through the streets. An unknown person fired a gun, which resulted in a chase through the streets and a white Confederate veteran was shot and killed. This sparked a white-led riot that ended in at least two Black citizens dead and six severely wounded. Whites also destroyed Black property in the melee, which continued overnight before US Army troops quelled the violence. 

This episode is an example of the kinds of racialized violence Black people faced throughout the South when exercising their rights as citizens of the United States. Norfolk’s Black citizens could not count on the local police to protect them and had to turn to federal protection to secure their rights during Reconstruction.

While white-owned newspapers across Virginia such as the Norfolk Daybook blamed the Black participants for the violence, the Black-edited True Southerner told a different story. The newspaper's editor, Joseph T. Wilson, was a free-born Norfolk native who had served in the USCT during the Civil War, including with the famed Massachusetts 54th. In this newspaper, Wilson argued for federal protection of Black citizens, who were daily harassed and preyed upon by whites. This article was from the last edition of the paper; after it was published, white men attacked the printing office and destroyed the press. These two documents describe the same incident: the march to celebrate the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the ensuing violence.

Citations: "Insubordination and Crime" (excerpt), Norfolk Day Book, April 17, 1866, and "Opposition To a Lawful Celebration," True Southerner, 19 April 19, 1866, Library of Virginia.

Learn more about violence in post-Civil War Virginia in the Library's online exhibition Remaking Virginia.

Learn more about Joseph T. Wilson in his Dictionary of Virginia Biography entry online at Encyclopedia Virginia.

Standards

VS.8, VUS.7, USII.3, GOVT.8

Suggested Questions

Preview Activity

Compare: Compare the description of the event as described by the white and the Black newspapers. What did white southerners fear, and why? How accurate do you think the Day Book's description of the event was, and why?

Post Activities:

In Their Shoes: Imagine you are a Black citizen of Norfolk reading the article in the True Southerner. What tone does the article have? Why do you think it takes this tone? What do you think could have happened if the federal troops weren’t there to protect Black citizens?

Social Media Spin: Imagine you are a social media editor. Write about this incident for Threads.