A long list of post–Civil War anti‑Black massacres and riots exists, but historians generally highlight a core set of especially well‑documented events, many of which were minimized or covered up at the time. Below is a concise, selective list with location, approximate deaths, and major repercussions, including cover‑ups, rather than an exhaustive catalog.britannica+1​

Key anti‑Black massacres, 1865–1900

• Memphis massacre (1866) – Memphis, Tennessee

  • Where/when: Memphis, May 1–3, 1866.britannica​

  • Deaths: About 46 Black people murdered; more than 75 wounded; homes, schools, and churches destroyed.britannica​

  • Repercussions: Helped push Congress toward Radical Reconstruction and the 14th Amendment but almost no white perpetrators punished.britannica​

  • Cover‑ups: Local officials and many white newspapers framed the violence as “riot” provoked by Black people, downplaying police participation and the scale of killings.britannica​

• New Orleans massacre (1866) – New Orleans, Louisiana

  • Where/when: New Orleans, July 30, 1866, at a reconvened state constitutional convention of mostly Black and white Unionists.britannica​

  • Deaths: About 35 Black people killed and over 100 wounded by police and white mobs.britannica​

  • Repercussions: Became major Northern evidence of Southern bad faith, bolstering support for Congressional Reconstruction.britannica​

  • Cover‑ups: City authorities and sympathetic press portrayed the massacre as a necessary response to “radicals,” concealing official responsibility.britannica​

• Colfax massacre (1873) – Colfax, Louisiana

  • Where/when: Grant Parish courthouse, Colfax, April 13, 1873.wikipedia​

  • Deaths: Estimates around 60–150 Black men killed after surrendering during a dispute over a Reconstruction‑era election.wikipedia​

  • Repercussions: Supreme Court’s United States v. Cruikshank (1876) gutted federal capacity to prosecute white paramilitary violence and helped end Reconstruction.wikipedia​

  • Cover‑ups: White accounts rebranded the massacre as a “riot,” and local commemorations honored white attackers, erasing murdered Black defenders.wikipedia​

• Hamburg massacre (1876) – Hamburg, South Carolina

  • Where/when: Hamburg, July 8–9, 1876.wikipedia​

  • Deaths: At least 6 Black militiamen killed after being disarmed by a large white posse.wikipedia​

  • Repercussions: Helped “redeemer” Democrats terrorize Black voters and regain control of South Carolina politics.wikipedia​

  • Cover‑ups: State investigations were weak; white paramilitaries later celebrated as restoring “order,” obscuring their role in political terror.wikipedia​

Jim Crow–era massacres and the Red Summer

• Wilmington coup and massacre (1898) – Wilmington, North Carolina

  • Where/when: Wilmington, November 10, 1898.wikipedia​

  • Deaths: Exact toll unknown; often estimated dozens of Black residents killed; Black newspaper and businesses burned.wikipedia​

  • Repercussions: Only successful coup d’état in U.S. history, overthrowing a multiracial elected government and ushering in Jim Crow in North Carolina.wikipedia​

  • Cover‑ups: For decades white elites and newspapers described it as a “race riot” defending white supremacy, burying the fact of an organized coup.wikipedia​

• Atlanta race riot (1906) – Atlanta, Georgia

  • Where/when: Atlanta, September 22–24, 1906.wikipedia​

  • Deaths: At least 25 Black people killed; some estimates higher; widespread assaults and property destruction.wikipedia​

  • Repercussions: Intensified segregation and the growth of Black self‑help and mutual‑aid networks in the city.wikipedia​

  • Cover‑ups: White press had fueled the violence with fabricated stories; later coverage minimized the death toll and emphasized white “order‑restoration.”wikipedia​

• Springfield race riot (1908) – Springfield, Illinois

  • Where/when: Abraham Lincoln’s hometown, August 14–16, 1908.wikipedia​

  • Deaths: At least 2 Black men lynched; several more people killed; Black neighborhood destroyed.wikipedia​

  • Repercussions: Shock in the North helped spur the founding of the NAACP in 1909.wikipedia​

  • Cover‑ups: Local leaders emphasized property damage over killings and framed the violence as spontaneous, obscuring organized white mobs.wikipedia​

• Red Summer (1919) – multiple cities and rural areas

  • Where/when: Dozens of locations, including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Knoxville, Omaha, and rural Arkansas, in 1919.wikipedia+1​

  • Deaths: Overall death toll likely several hundred; in Chicago, 38 dead (23 Black, 15 white), over 500 injured, 1,000 Black families left homeless; at Elaine, Arkansas, 100–240 Black people and 5 whites killed.wikipedia​

  • Repercussions: Accelerated Black militancy and organizing, and exposed the fragility of wartime promises of democracy for Black veterans.wikipedia​

  • Cover‑ups: Officials often blamed “Black radicals,” undercounted Black deaths, and mischaracterized coordinated white attacks as mutual “race riots.”zinnedproject+1​

Tulsa and other 1920s–1940s massacres

• Tulsa race massacre (1921) – Tulsa, Oklahoma

  • Where/when: Greenwood district, May 31–June 1, 1921.britannica​

  • Deaths: Best estimates range from 100 to 300 Black residents killed; about 1,200–1,400 homes and businesses destroyed; roughly 10,000 left homeless.mediareparations+1​

  • Repercussions: Long‑term economic devastation of Greenwood, attempts to block rebuilding, and no criminal accountability or compensation for victims.eji+1​

  • Cover‑ups: White newspapers incited the violence and then suppressed coverage; an inflammatory front‑page story was removed from archives, and local institutions erased the massacre from official histories for decades.mediareparations+1​

• Rosewood massacre (1923) – Rosewood, Florida

  • Where/when: Rosewood, January 1923.wikipedia​

  • Deaths: Estimates vary, roughly 6–27 Black residents killed; Black town burned and abandoned.wikipedia​

  • Repercussions: Survivors fled and never returned; in 1994 Florida approved limited financial reparations for survivors and descendants.wikipedia​

  • Cover‑ups: Local and state officials accepted false accusations against a Black man and allowed white mobs to destroy the town; the episode disappeared from mainstream accounts until late 20th century investigations.wikipedia​

• Detroit race riot (1943) – Detroit, Michigan

  • Where/when: Detroit, June 20–22, 1943.wikipedia​

  • Deaths: 34 people killed (25 Black, 9 white) and hundreds injured.wikipedia​

  • Repercussions: Highlighted wartime industrial tensions; federal investigations criticized local police bias and urged fairer housing and employment policies, though change was limited.wikipedia​

  • Cover‑ups: City officials and some media blamed Black residents and “outside agitators,” downplaying police brutality and white mob action.wikipedia​

Postwar anti‑Black violence (for context)

Even though the question focuses on the post–Civil War era, many historians see later uprisings as rooted in the same anti‑Black structures.

• Birmingham church bombing (1963) – Birmingham, Alabama

  • Where/when: 16th Street Baptist Church, September 15, 1963.wikipedia​

  • Deaths: Four Black girls killed.wikipedia​

  • Repercussions: Galvanized civil rights opinion and contributed to passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act; prosecutions of Klan bombers were delayed for years.wikipedia​

  • Cover‑ups: Local law enforcement failed to pursue suspects aggressively, and political leaders minimized white supremacist involvement.wikipedia​

• Urban uprisings with anti‑Black state violence (e.g., Watts 1965, Detroit 1967)

  • While often labeled “riots,” these were largely responses to police brutality and segregation; Black neighborhoods bore the brunt of casualties and property loss.britannica​

  • Official inquiries acknowledged discriminatory policing yet rarely produced deep structural reform.britannica​

Notes on undercounting and cover‑ups

• Record‑keeping: Many 19th‑ and early 20th‑century events lack precise death tolls because officials did not systematically count Black victims, or deliberately undercounted them.wikipedia+1​

• Language: Terms like “riot” were used to imply symmetrical conflict, even when violence was overwhelmingly white‑on‑Black and often organized by elites, police, or militias.wikipedia+1​

• Memory: For events such as Tulsa, Wilmington, Elaine, and Rosewood, local elites and media actively suppressed documentation, destroyed records, or promoted myths blaming Black communities; only late‑20th‑century scholarship and commissions partially corrected the historical record.eji+2​

If you like, a follow‑up can expand this list into a longer table (dozens of incidents) or zoom in on one event’s documentation and historiographical debates.