Avon Acker

Colfax: Where Freedom Died Avon Acker

In 1871, Rom Decker, a well-educated former slave noted for his skill with weapons and fists, led a wagon train of freedmen from Rapides Parish, Louisiana to fertile homesteads along the Verde River in Arizona. Two years later, an urgent plea for help from loved ones sends Decker rushing from his home in Arizona back to Louisiana. The political situation has become untenable in Grant Parish and outright war between white militiamen and newly freed slaves appears to be unavoidable. White planters are faced with financial ruin if they lose access to the cheap farm labor the former slaves provided prior to the War Between the States. The planters are determined to prevent the freedmen from improving their living standard in order to ensure their availability as low wage laborers. To accomplish their goals, it is imperative they block the freedmen from voting, owning land, or holding elective office. The white planters who freed Decker and his family, brothers Robert and Richard Guidry, have been working hard to help the former slaves. They pay a fair wage for labor and encourage the former slaves to exercise their right to vote. The brothers also taught their black employees to read and write and encouraged them to run for public office. Supporting the freedmen has led to deep resentment, anger, and outright antagonism from former friends and neighbors. The Guidrys begin to receive death threats prompting Roberts worried wife to appeal to Decker for help. Rom arrives in Rapides Parish only to learn the Guidrys have already been ambushed with tragic results. He immediately launches an investigation into the attack. The investigation leads Rom to neighboring Grant Parish where he learns of an impending battle between the rogue white militia and former slaves over the results of a recent election. Rom's investigation lands him in trouble with the law in Grant when he gets too close to the guilty parties. Unjustly accused of a heinous crime, Rom becomes the subject of a ma