S8 Ep1089: Robert Cwiklik, guest author, recounts how, in July 1866, New Orleans became the site of a brutal police-led riot against a const

The John Batchelor Show · Jul 5, 2026 · 7m

Robert Cwiklik, guest author, recounts how, in July 1866, New Orleans became the site of a brutal police-led riot against a constitutional convention aimed at securing Black voting rights. Following Lincoln's death, President Andrew Johnson's lenient Reconstruction policy empowered former Confederates, who enacted "Black Codes" to essentially re-enslave African-Americans through vagrancy laws and labor restrictions. When unionists attempted to rewrite Louisiana's constitution to include Black suffrage, local police and white citizens opened fire on the convention-goers. The massacre resulted…