Convict Lease System

The 13th Amendment, created out of the ashes of the American Civil War, declared that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." It was an end to the harsh cruelty that was brought upon African Americans for generations; however, a loophole exists within a simple phrase: “except as a punishment for crime…”. Even though all Americans are considered free under the 13th Amendment on paper, in reality this cannot be further from the truth as people were still considered a slave to the state if they committed a crime. Over time though, this “hands-off” doctrine approach gradually started to shift throughout the 1960s and 70s because the Civil Rights Movement stretched far beyond just African Americans. For prisoners, it was a justifiable call to action for basic human rights.

In 1865, slavery was abolished, by the Thirteenth amendment. This Amendment brought humongous changes and a large number of problems. (Lecture 1) After the destruction of slavery, it left nearly four million African American with no property, little training, and few rights; which made the definition of freedom for African Americans the central question on the nation’s agenda. The big question of the time period was, “what was freedom for African Americans?” (Give me liberty! An American 550)

Certainly, freedom was supposed to be “freer”” for those slaves that had fought for their rights after years of submissionn, but, unfortunately, many white Southern people continued to ignore the law by not showing any respect for Africans-Americans. Because of the radical reconstruction in the south, the African-Americans were a step closer from the same political

Following the Civil War, America was in shambles. There were many groups with strong, conflicting ideas of how things should be. However, most groups had one idea in common: reducing the rights of African Americans as much as possible. Freed slaves had very little freedom under the law, were treated like a lesser species by those around them, and faced dangerous environments everywhere they went. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation may have legally freed slaves, but African Americans were barely more than paid slaves.

“Racism was used aggressively to divide poor white southerners from slaves. The relationship between the wealthy and the poor was aggressively exploited by the rich white slave holder to ensure the poor whites non-slave holder that they had a similar cause” (Shaping America: Lesson 16). This caused non-slave holding whites to have a similar view as latter. Non-slave holding whites were in direct competition with slaves and more often than not were forced out of work due to the free labor slavery had offered.

The first American slaves were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. Their job was to aid in the production of crops such as tobacco as the Virginians “were desperate for labor, to grow enough to stay alive… needed labor, to grow corn for subsistence, to grow tobacco for export” (Zinn 24,25). The slaves that were being brought to the Americas were seen as builders of the economic foundations of the new nation and as time passed the ownership of slaves dwindled but inequality and segregation grew to be more prevalent in the U.S (“Slavery in America”). On January 1st, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order which freed slaves in the United States not within the Confederacy, under Union Control. Two years later the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution which abolished slavery but many Southern States managed to create unattainable prerequisites for blacks to live, work or participate in society. With nearly one hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation, African-Americans were still treated just as unequally. Oppression, race-inspired violence, segregation and an unequal world of disenfranchisement lingered across Southern States for African-Americans. The Jim Crow Laws

The Union went on to win the Civil War, maintain the union and abolish slavery. Problem solved right? Well, not quite. In fact, America’s problems had only just begun.  After the Civil War, the country needed to be reconstructed for a few reasons. First of all, much of the Confederate land was now wrecked, with farms and plantations burned down and crops destroyed. People were using now illegitimate confederate money and local governments were in disarray. Former confederates needed to be effectively incorporated back into the Union. Most importantly, slaves were now freedmen and needed to be integrated back into society. The United States was a “new nation,” that, for the first time was “wholly free” (Foner 477). But with the abolishment of slavery, “What is the true definition of freedom?” became a central question in the nation. Black people in America after the war were facing intense scrutiny, racist ideologies and bigotry that was still very prevalent throughout the country. In 1865, Congressman James A. Garfield asked, “Is it the bare privilege of not being chained? If this is all, then freedom is a bitter mockery, a cruel delusion” (Foner 477). Was freedom simply just the absence of slavery, or did it give other rights to former slaves?

The promise of freedom to all “slaves” came with the end of the Civil War. The 13th amendment, ratified on December 6, 1885 officially freed any remaining slaves. Then, the 14th amendment was ratified in the summer of 1968; it stated that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States” would be given citizenship. The 15th amendment followed and gave all men, but not women, the right to vote regardless of race. It appeared as if all freed men and women would soon be as fortunate as any white person. Unfortunately, this was an illusion. While Congress could ratify amendments, the states retained a massive amount of power and utilized this to reissue the Slave Codes as Black Codes. While all of the southern states passed Black Codes,

Blackmon provides many stories in his book about what the slaves to forced laborers went through and how they felt about the new so called “freedom” they gained. The Black Americans prior to the Emancipation Proclamation have never seen the slightest clue to what freedom could even feel like. “Some of the old slaves said they too weren’t sure what “freedom” really was”

Imagine if you couldn’t control your own fate? Ever since you were little, your fate has already been decided for you. Any dream that you had, consider it gone. Going to school, finding a job, creating a family, take those lifetime goals and throw them out the window. You are forced to work for the rest of your life as a slave. That’s what life was like as an African American prior to Civil War. If you were African American, or even “one-drop” black, you were qualified to be part of the slave trade. Slaves didn’t know when their next meal was going to be or if they were even going to get one. Slaves, especially those in the field, worked from the time the sun would rise until sunset. Hours were long; men, woman, and children were worked to the bone and were expected to perform hard but not be given the proper food or sleep needed to refuel themselves. That’s what made the slave trade so horrible, African Americans weren’t looked at as human beings in society, and they were looked at as property. Even small children and the elderly were not exempt from these long work hours; there were no excuses for anyone who was African American. In class we talked about the United States Constitution and it’s significant to our nations history. It talks about the proper rights given to the people and the rules set forth for everyone to

The newly freed slaves were gaining rights that were always only a dream with legal marriage, education, and power over their children’s lives. However, Black Codes were being used to recreate slavery and were making it hard for African Americans to own property and function in society. (Lecture 1/29/16) Their rights were not given without many exceptions including that African Americans who were convicted of felonies were being put back to work on farms that they were just given the freedom to leave, and all of a sudden it was much easier to get a felony charge for being black and not having a job were considered committing a crime. President Johnson’s neglect of action in southern states was making it nearly impossible for the former slaves to function in society, even after The Civil Rights Act of 1866, and leads into the creation of the Ku Klux Klan

After the Civil War came to an end and the military conflict had ended, the Reconstruction period started, which was in many ways still a war. This vital battle was waged by radical northerners who wanted to chastise the South and Southerners who badly wanted to preserve their way of life. The Reconstruction period was a time of great pain and endless questions. What was to be the place of freed blacks in the South? Did Abolition mean that black men would now enjoy the same status as white men?9 At the dawn of the 20th century, nine out of ten African Americans lived in the South. Jim Crow laws of segregation ruled the land. The Supreme Court upheld the power of the Southern states to create two "SEPARATE BUT EQUAL" societies with its 1896

Slavery, the keeping of slaves as a practice or institution, has held a grim but important role in America’s history. Since the founding of the United States, slavery has been a moral and human rights issue that citizens have argued over to the point of war. To most Americans, the day slavery ended was January 1st, 1863-the day President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and freed all slaves within America’s borders. However slavery never did end-and is in fact at an all time high as of 2016. Despite the ban on slavery over one

The United States of America is known for its claims of democracy, equality, and freedom for all of it’s citizens. These claims are the foundation of America’s independence and essentially its entire history. But “claims” are simply all they were in history. While many achieved equal democracy and freedom, the African-American population of the US was exempt from these “inalienable rights” and heavily oppressed by society. The cruelty of slavery and oppression as a whole reached its peak in the 19th century bringing upon the abolitionist movement, which eventually aided in the historic removal of slavery and the continued fight for equal right of citizenship for African-Americans. Of the many abolitionists who fought for

Life for Black People After 1865 The Civil war finally ended in 1865 but did life really improve for the Blacks there after? In this essay I am going to give evidence for and against to support whether or not life did improve. I will discuss the new organisations that arose such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Freedmen’s Bureau, As well as the blood and gore side of things. Why did they use such terrible methods of murder?