Journalist Douglas Blackmon tells another tale of freedom postponed and denied in SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME. Blackmons book tells the unfamiliar story of neo-slavery that reached beyond the de-facto slavery of tenant farming and debt peonage. Blackmon first became intrigued by this episode of U.S. history while researching a story for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL which documented how U.S. Steel Corp. relied on forced black laborers in Alabama coal mines. He discovered: Under laws enacted specifically to intimidate blacks, tens of thousands of African Americans were arbitrarily arrested, hit with outrageous fines, and charged for the costs of their own arrests. With no means to pay these ostensible debts, prisoners were sold as forced laborers to coal mines, lumber camps, brickyards, railroads, quarries and farm plantations. Thousands of other African Americans were simply seized by southern landowners and compelled into years of involuntary servitude. It was a system that Blackmon found carried on in some areas until the early days of World War II. “#IfyoudonotunderstandWhiteSupremacy (Racism) What it is, and how it works everything else that you understand, will only confuse you” ~ Mr. Neely Fuller Jr. (1971)
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 05:21:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015