Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II

by: Douglas Blackmon

Published by: Anchor Books

Reviewed by Muhammed Hassanali

The book (paperback edition) starts with in the aftermath of the Civil War as the North-South Coalition effectively ended the “Reconstruction” era and ushered in the “Redemption” era. From the latter era until the mid 1950s, African-Americans endured torture, maiming, rape, abuse, lynching, and exploitation.

The path was the same, an African-American would be arrested for some minor infraction (real or imaginary), then convicted in small claims court in front of a local justice of the peace. As the African-Americans generally did not have enough money to pay their fines and court costs, a “friend” paid all costs if the convicted would work to pay off the debt. The convicts were treated as if they were in prison – shackled, berthed in pens, underfed, and physically abused. The convicts were also charged for their food, shelter, and clothing, adding more indentured time, with a possibility that they may never be able to work their way out of servitude.

These “friends” in turn “leased” the convicts to other entities (coal mines, lumber camps, brickyards, railroads, quarries, and farm plantations) for a fixed period of time; thus creating the entire enterprise into an industry as agents would engage local law enforcement to bring in a certain number of able-bodied workers (or even specific individuals), who were then “leased” to businesses or individuals who would profit from cheap labor.

The text reads “By 1900, the South’s judicial system had been wholly reconfigured to make one of its primary purposes the coercion of African-Americans to comply with the social customs and labor demands of whites.” These prisoners were less than slaves as each could be easily replaced from a ready supply of arrested individuals without the upfront investment that owning a slave entailed. Ironically, in addition to the African-Americans’ labor, the exploiter desperately needed their skills and services as well to survive.

Source documents for this book are county records, municipal records, census documents, business records, some prior academic historical works, and some primary accounts. Hence it is difficult to dispute the veracity of the incidences. While the text is at times repetitious and disjointed, it is a powerful narrative of one of the most disturbing periods in American history.

Armchair Interviews says: A well-documented report on a challenging time in America’s history