Red River

The biggest theme and arguably the main point of the entire book is the history of minorities, specifically the black community in the South, and how this history is often systematically rewritten or erased entirely. This is an issue the characters confront in the narrative as the Colfax Massacre is almost immediately labeled the “Colfax Riot” by the same white men who perpetrated it. Sam expresses the grief of the community when he says, “Colfax Riot, my foot. Words matter in how people see, how they gonna remember. Easter Sunday 1873 be the Colfax Massacre, not the Colfax Riot” (209).

Decades later, Jackson is still fighting this horrific rewrite of history, telling Ted: “[D]on’t never let nobody tell you it was a riot. I was there. Your grandfather Noby was there. Our fathers were there. It was a massacre” (370). Nevertheless, the author includes photos of the actual historical marker in Colfax, which exists today, marking the spot as the location of the “Colfax Riot” (220). Ted also confronts the problem of history being written by the people in power as a means of maintaining that power when he reads the entry for “Negro” in the encyclopedia (379).