hempem's Full Review: Douglas A. Blackmon - Slavery by Another Name: The...
When did slavery end? Before reading this troubling but historically correct and well-researched book, I would have confidently answered that slavery ended after the official surrender of the Confederacy at the end of the Civil War. And in a sense, it did. It was no longer legal to keep slaves, and this could be enforced by law. Freed slaves could vote, hold offices, work their own pieces of land if they so chose, or be paid to work for their former captors. For a time, this freedom saw blacks being elected to public offices, and some acquiring land and degrees of wealth formerly denied them. Many ended up working for very small amounts of money on farms owned by white men, charged for everything from seed to rent for the shacks they called home. It was still freedom, though, in a sense not felt before.
Before long, however, a system evolved in which local sheriffs would arrest black men and women on falsified charges such as speaking too loudly in the presence of a white woman, or "vagrancy" (which could be charged even for taking a stroll into town). A fee would be charged that was more than 3 months salary and could not be paid, so a representative from a large farming operation or coal mine or other corporation that needed manual labor would offer to pay the fee in exchange for the so-called convict agreeing to work it off. Once agreed, these men and women would be shipped off to work under conditions arguably worse than those of the pre-Civil War South, because corporations had made very little investment in the men and could cheaply replace them . . . they were charged for every little thing until paying off their debt amounted to years of tortuous labor (in chains and whipped daily, often to death). Attempts to stop the practice fell short in the South, where the entire justice system worked in unity to repress reform. The economic interests of companies that were bringing millions of dollars into the South were put first. Using only this new form of virtual slave labor, free men were unable to form effective unions or strikes and demand higher wages. Without the convict system, massive corporations (one owned by U.S. Steel) in the South would have suffered vast economic losses.
The motivation for sheriffs to arrest any black man that moved were enormous. They were paid a percentage for each "convict" that was arrested and delivered to one of the many coal mines and other large corporate interests (and some farmers with large farms). Contracts were sometimes shown to the convicts, which they couldn't read. But many times, records were not even kept of amounts owed and terms to be served. While being held in the jails, before delivery to the coal mines or other interested parties, the sheriffs would only feed the man starvation amounts of food, because they were given a certain amount of money to feed each convict, but could pocket whatever extra money was left over. Often convicts were so weak that once they arrived at the brutal conditions of the coal mines, they died within days.
Douglas Blackmon clearly outlines the process of this new form of slavery using the example of one man named Green Cottenham, and traces the progression from the initial emancipation of slavery to the slide backward when black voices were silenced - their right to vote or hold office taken away again - the fear that once again dominated their lives as people were "rounded up" at the demand of local coal mines for more workers, and charged with ridiculous violations as a loose cover for what was really happening. Companies in possession of these men would sometimes sell them to other farm owners . . . a process that would involve black men being displayed on the exact same slavery platforms in the middle of town for "inspection" while in chains.
The conditions of these coal mines and farms were so bad that it was difficult to read. Graphic details include the constant rape of new convicts as older convicts fought over them, often to the death, in the dark corridors the coal mines. Living conditions including all the men being shackled together as they slept, and having perhaps one or two buckets for waste. Disease was rampant, clothing was in tatters, and the punishment for minor violations was so violent that men were whipped to death many times. Even more unlucky were the ones whipped so many times their skin fell off and they received no medical care or rest.
The attempts to reform this system did not succeed until just before World War II, when suddenly the US Military needed as many able-bodied men as were available. It took this to make the matter a priority in Washington, and the practice of local law enforcement selling convicts to private corporations for profit, and those men and women being kept indefinitely, was ended.
Cemeteries on the outskirts of the old mines and other operations still exist as mostly unmarked and silent tribute to the amount of men and women held for years and worked or beaten to death.
What I found deeply interesting is the author's discussion of one company that took responsibility for the "convict-leasing" behaviors uncovered in its past. It issued a formal apology to the black employees, set up discussion groups, which were highly emotional and surprisingly to all, very healing. Big sugar, steel, brick making, coal mining companies in the South owe their wealth to the involuntary servitude of men and women held against their will for years in brutal conditions.
While difficult to read, I feel that this book should be required reading or at least this portion of American history be clearly incorporated into the textbooks of students today. I think it explains so much about the distrust of the "law" that exists even today, and the reason our nation saw so little upward mobility of blacks in the South over this span of time. I want to emphasize that this was NOT a small-scale happening that the author has exploited or made seem larger than life or exaggerated in any way. It was widespread across the South, Georgia and Alabama being the worst offenders. When the author attempted to contact the descendants of the men and women who experienced this part of history, he was met with silence and an unwillingness to discuss the issue.
It is the author's opinion that slavery in the United States did not truly end until 1945, and although a bold assertion, his extensive research backed by a large "notes" section citing references has had the effect of proving his opinion to be truthful and historical. No wonder this work won the Pulitzer Prize.
I strongly encourage the reading of this important book, and thank you for reading this review,
In this historical expos, Blackmon brings to light one of the most shameful chapters in American history--an Age of Neoslavery that thrived from the a...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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