1866 Mechanics Institute Attack

One violent event, captured in the best media technologies of its time and brought to American living parlors, completely changed American politics during the Reconstruction period. A convention at the stately Mechanics' Institute in New Orleans, determined to create a new constitution where all races could vote, was forcefully ended by police in what investigators could only describe as a massacre.  We discuss the event, the reasons behind it, and how it affected political power for ten years.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices