Public attention following the riots and reports of the atrocities , together with the New Orleans massacre of 1866 in July , strengthened the case made by Radical Republicans in U.S. Congress that more had to be done to protect freedmen in the South and grant them full rights as citizens . The events influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , which granted full citizenship to African Americans , as well as the Reconstruction Act , which established military districts and oversight in certain states . Investigation of the riot suggested specific causes related to competition in the working class for housing , work , and social space : Irish immigrants and their descendants competed with freedmen in all these categories . The white planters wanted to drive freedmen out of Memphis and back to plantations , to support cotton cultivation with their labor . The violence was a way to enforce white supremacy after the end of slavery
New Orleans massacre of 1866
New Orleans massacre of 1866
Memphis riots of 1866