The Opelousas massacre began on September 28, 1868 in the St. Landry Parish of Louisiana. After the Civil War, the Louisiana Constitution of 1868 gave black men the right to vote, integrated public education, and gave black citizens access to public accommodations.
This did not sit well with the white supremacists. On September 28, Emerson Bentley, a white man from Ohio, was teaching black children at Freemen's Bureau when three white supremacists interrupted him and beat him. When the attack started, the children ran from the classroom screaming that Mr. Bentley was being killed. This led to rumors that Bentley had been killed, but he had not, and he went into hiding.
The black community began organizing and threatening vengeance for Bentley's "death". The white supremacists mobilized against them with superior numbers and weapons.
Estimates of the death toll vary widely from less than one hundred to up to three hundred killed, most of the dead being blacks.
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