This Day in History: 1877-04-24

As part of a political compromise that enabled his election, President Rutherford B. Hayes withdraws federal troops from Louisiana—the last federally-occupied former Confederate state—just 12 years after the end of the Civil War. The withdrawal marked the end of Reconstruction and paved the way for the unrestrained resurgence of white supremacist rule in the South, carrying with it the rapid deterioration of political rights for Black people. Congressional efforts to provide federal protection to formerly enslaved Black people were undermined by the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned laws that provided remedies to Black people facing violent intimidation. In the 1870s, Northern politicians began retreating from a commitment to protect Black rights and lives, culminating in the withdrawal of troops in 1877, the subsequent development and wide implementation of “Jim Crow” rule, and mass terrorizing and deprivation of rights of Black people. Learn more.