Israel brings his son Noby to the Colfax courthouse to help protect newly elected Republican officials from white opposition.

Noby crawls through a courthouse window and unlocks the front door, letting the group of black men inside.

White League leader Smokin' Jimmy Hadnot rides up with armed men and demands the black occupiers leave the courthouse.

Lucy discovers a crawlspace hidden beneath the courthouse floorboards while searching a storeroom for supplies.

Noby sneaks alone to Summerfield Springs and overhears white men plotting a violent assault on the courthouse.

Eli McCullen arrives at the courthouse with news that his brother Jessie has been shot by white men.

McCully gives Sam his old fedora and sends him to lead the women and children to safety in the swamp.

White men reposition their cannon to the unguarded river side of the courthouse and fire, killing many defenders.

McCully climbs to the courthouse roof to fight a fire set by white men and is shot three times.

White men discover survivors hidden in the courthouse crawlspace and force them out at gunpoint as prisoners.

Luke Hadnot marches the prisoners to the Pecan Tree after the sheriff leaves and begins executing them in pairs.

Israel plays dead when Eli McCullen is shot beside him and falls on top of him, surviving the prisoner executions.

Sam finds Israel barely alive beneath the bodies near the Pecan Tree and leads him to safety.

Sam returns to his family, declares the event a massacre rather than a riot, and vows to stay in Colfax.

Jackson gives McCully's old fedora to his grandson Ted, charging him with the responsibility of keeping hope alive.

The black community of Colfax, Louisiana comes together to defend the courthouse and protect newly elected Republican officials from white supremacist threats. After weeks of tense occupation, the White League attacks on Easter Sunday with superior numbers and a cannon, overwhelming the black defenders. McCully, the heart of the resistance, is shot down fighting the fire that destroys the courthouse, and survivors are taken prisoner and executed by the Pecan Tree. Israel Smith cheats death by playing dead, becoming the sole witness to the massacre, while Sam Tademy survives by leading the women and children to safety in the swamp. In the aftermath, Sam refuses to abandon Colfax and dedicates himself to building a better future for the black community. Decades later, Jackson Tademy fulfills Sam's dream of a black school, and eventually passes the torch — and McCully's old fedora — to the next generation.

The headline events of the Colfax Massacre and its long aftermath.

Sam arrives at the courthouse occupation a week in and joins Israel and McCully on the rooftop watch.

McCully shows Sam and Israel his voting hat with its supposed phoenix feather and speaks of hope for the future.

Sheriff Shaw officially deputizes McCully and fifteen other black men to defend the courthouse.

McCully persuades a reluctant Israel to stay at the courthouse and bring his family to Smithfield Quarter for safety.

Preacher Johnson urges the community to surrender; McCully and Sam both address the crowd at the Palm Sunday service.

The Republican politicians secretly leave by boat for New Orleans, abandoning the black defenders at the courthouse.

Women and families travel to the courthouse to hold an Easter Sunday sunrise service alongside the defenders.

A rider interrupts the Easter sunrise service to warn that white men are marching on Colfax with a cannon.

Israel is struck by flying fragments from a defective makeshift cannon during the battle and is left wounded in the field.

Sheriff Shaw is nearly hanged at Calhoun's Sugarhouse but is freed when the white men recognize his Freemason signal.

Sam walks among the dead after the massacre and overhears white men casually calling the event the Colfax Riot.

Green Tademy is accidentally killed when a gun discharges during a possum hunting trip with Jackson and Noby.

The White League burns down Jackson's commissary and school while the Tademy family watches helplessly from inside the house.

Noby is hidden inside a coffin and smuggled onto a train to escape Louisiana after attacking Simon Hadnot.

Jackson takes Nathan-Green and his young grandson Ted on a tour of the completed Grant Parish Training School.

As the courthouse occupation stretches on, Sam Tademy arrives to join the cause and McCully rallies the community with speeches and symbols of hope, while Sheriff Shaw formally deputizes the defenders. The Republican politicians the black men are protecting ultimately flee to New Orleans by boat, leaving the defenders alone, just before the Easter Sunday massacre begins with a rider's urgent warning. In the massacre's wake, survivors like Israel are left wounded in the field, Sheriff Shaw is nearly hanged before a Masonic signal saves him, and Sam watches white men casually rename the event the Colfax Riot. The following decades bring personal tragedies — the accidental death of Green Tademy and the White League's arson of Jackson's school — alongside quiet acts of survival, including Noby's escape from Louisiana hidden inside a coffin. Life continues forward as Jackson eventually leads his grandson Ted on a tour of the school he built from the ashes of his father's dream.

The supporting moments that built and broke the Colfax community.

Sam's father secretly visits him in slavery and passes down the family name Ta-ta-mee, tracing their origins to Africa.

McCully promises Sam spots in his future black school to persuade Sam to fully commit to the courthouse defense.

Noby reports to courthouse leaders that white men are planning a violent attack, and Sheriff Nash reveals a so-called peace proposal.

Judge Register issues a formal citation to Sheriff Nash; nineteen new men volunteer as deputies after McCully's speech.

A young Israel shoves a white overseer in a rage, triggering months of beatings that crush his will to fight.

Levi Allen negotiates a ceasefire allowing women and children to leave; McCully chooses Sam to guide them to the swamp.

Sam reaches the Pecan Tree after the massacre and finds three hanged bodies suspended from its branches.

Israel gives eyewitness testimony about the massacre in court, but no white men are convicted of any crimes.

Noby confronts his brother David about their shared land debt; David reveals he never legally signed the loans.

Sam collapses at the gristmill and dies, leaving Jackson to inherit the responsibility of building a black school.

Jackson negotiates with the Widow Cruikshank and buys one hundred acres of land along Walden Bayou in The Bottom.

A flood forces the Tademy family to evacuate; while sheltering in a tent, Jackson finally vows aloud to rebuild the school.

Noby attacks white man Simon Hadnot at the quarry after Hadnot tries to steal his rightful place in line.

Jackson shows his grandson Ted a racist encyclopedia entry about black men, then counters it with a list of black inventors.

Ted walks away from Robert Hadnot's challenge over Willie Dee, declaring he knows what the Tademy name means.

The story of the Tademy family is driven by turning points that echo across generations, beginning with a runaway slave father secretly passing the ancient family name Ta-ta-mee down to his children. Key decisions during the courthouse occupation — McCully's persuasion of Sam, Noby's spy mission, and Levi Allen's negotiated ceasefire — determine who survives the coming massacre. Justice never arrives when Israel's eyewitness court testimony fails to convict a single white man, marking the true end of Reconstruction. In the years that follow, betrayals and deaths reshape the family: David's refusal to help Noby with their shared debt leads to Noby's permanent exile, and Sam's death finally pushes Jackson to fulfill the dream of a black school. The cycle of anger that destroyed Israel and exiled Noby finds resolution in Ted, who walks away from a fight over his family name, choosing pride and dignity over violence.