The research used the term "homicide" in its broadest possible sense as applied in 19th-century Louisiana. Thus, the study included homicide cases brought before the courts, murders committed by terrorist groups reported to investigating committees, and all violent deaths reported by local newspapers. The research compared the situation in rural areas with that in New Orleans, the State’s largest city. The study examined the motivations for criminal violence and sought to provide an explanation for the emergence of lynching as an acceptable form of punishment, especially against black people. Patterns of homicide varied widely from one region to another, between racial and ethnic groups, and between genders. Results revealed a clear dichotomy between the general lawlessness of white persons and the relatively nonviolent attitude of black persons during Reconstruction. In addition, black intraracial homicides became an important component of the general atmosphere of lawlessness in the South as black persons became increasingly alienated by the degradation of social, legal, and political conditions that characterized the Reconstruction period. Thus, the political and economic conditions of the Reconstuction era produced the roots of modern violence among black persons. Figures, tables, illustrations, chapter notes, index, and approximately 600 references