the re-enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II
468 pages
English language
Published April 7, 2009 by Anchor Books.
A sobering account of a little-known crime against African Americans, and the insidious legacy of racism that reverberates today. From the aftermath of the Civil War through the dawn of World War II, 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 "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 and compelled into years of involuntary servitude. Armies of "free" black men labored without compensation, were repeatedly bought and sold, and were forced through beatings and physical torture to do the bidding of white masters for decades after the official abolition of American slavery.--From publisher description.
Worthwhile book to read, although I felt that the author was much more graphic than was necessary to get his points across. The plot is informative and revealing - I had not realized the extend of the bigotry and persecution that continued well into the 20th century. However, the details seemed excessive and detracted from the message by being entirely too graphic.
