Tag Page UntoldHistory

THE VICKSBURG MASSACRE… DECEMBER 7, 1874

On December 7, 1874, Vicksburg showed the country exactly how far some people were willing to go to stop Black political power. Peter Barrow Crosby had been legally elected sheriff of Warren County. He wasn’t appointed. He wasn’t forced in. He won the vote. But the moment he tried to do the job he was elected to do, white officials decided he had to go. Black residents did what any community would do. They marched to the courthouse to support their elected official. No weapons. No violence. Just a community standing behind the person they chose. But white paramilitary groups were waiting. They opened fire on unarmed marchers and turned that day into what we now call the Vicksburg Massacre. Federal reports say at least 29 Black people were killed that day. Later research shows the number was likely far higher… maybe 75, maybe over 200. People were shot in fields, on roads, and miles outside town. White newspapers bragged about “restoring order,” and local leaders tried to pretend the violence was justified. It took U.S. troops to step in and put Crosby back in office, but the damage was already done. The massacre became part of the larger effort to tear down Reconstruction and silence Black voters across the South. This is why some dates matter. This is why context matters. December 7 isn’t just history. It’s a reminder of how easily progress can be attacked the moment it threatens the people who benefited from the old system. When we talk about events like this, it’s not to create division. It’s to tell the truth the way it actually happened and to honor the people who risked everything for their right to participate in their own government #VicksburgMassacre #ReconstructionTruth #December71874 #BlackHistoryMatters #UntoldHistory #AmericanHistory #PeterCrosby #VoterSuppressionHistory #NeverForget

James Reeb was a white Unitarian Universalist minister from Boston who answered Dr. King’s call after Bloody Sunday in Selma in March 1965. He didn’t have to go. Nobody forced him. He chose to show up anyway, knowing exactly how violent Alabama was toward civil rights workers at that moment. On March 9, 1965, after leaving a restaurant with two other ministers, Reeb was attacked by white segregationists armed with clubs. He was struck in the head, collapsed, and died two days later on March 11. He was 38 years old. Here’s the part people like to gloss over. His murder wasn’t accidental. It wasn’t random. It was targeted racial terror meant to send a message. And the response to his death tells you everything. Hospitals initially refused to treat him properly. The men charged with his murder were acquitted by an all-white jury. No justice. Just like that. Reeb’s death shocked the nation precisely because he was white. That’s uncomfortable, but it’s true. His killing helped push public pressure that led directly to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Not because his life mattered more, but because America suddenly paid attention when the violence crossed a line it had been ignoring for centuries. So when people try to argue that white allies didn’t sacrifice anything, James Reeb stands right there in the historical record saying otherwise. Sacrifice doesn’t require shared oppression to be real. It requires choice, risk, and consequence. He chose to stand where hatred was loud, and it cost him his life. #JamesReeb #Selma1965 #VotingRightsHistory #CivilRightsMovement #FreedomStruggle #HistoryMatters #UntoldHistory #RememberSelma