The Colfax Massacre, which took place on April 13, 1873, was a violent conflict between white supremacist groups and black freedmen in Colfax, Louisiana. The initial incident began when a group of armed white men, including members of the Ku Klux Klan, attacked the Grant Parish courthouse, where a group of black freedmen were gathering to defend it. In the ensuing violence, three white men and at least 105 black freedmen were killed.

In the aftermath of the massacre, three white men, known as the "Colfax Rioters," were charged with violating the Enforcement Acts of 1870, which were federal laws designed to protect the civil rights of African Americans. The case was prosecuted by US Attorney for Louisiana, James R. Beckwith. However, the prosecution faced numerous challenges, including witness intimidation, jury tampering, and local sympathy for the defendants.

Despite these obstacles, Beckwith was able to secure convictions for the three defendants in the lower courts. However, the defendants appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled in United States v. Cruikshank (1876) that the federal government did not have the authority to prosecute individuals for violating the civil rights of others unless the state government was unable or unwilling to do so.

This decision effectively gutted the Enforcement Acts and severely limited the federal government's ability to protect the civil rights of African Americans in the South. The legacy of the Colfax Massacre and the subsequent Supreme Court decision highlighted the deep-seated racism and violence that persisted in the post-Civil War South, and represented a significant setback for the push for racial equality and justice.