Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II | 
 enlarge | Author: Douglas A. Blackmon
Publisher: Doubleday
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 194
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.5 x 1.7
ISBN: 0385506252
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.896073
EAN: 9780385506250
ASIN: 0385506252
Publication Date: March 25, 2008
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Product Description
In this groundbreaking historical expose, Douglas A. Blackmon brings to light one of the most shameful chapters in American history—an “Age of Neoslavery” that thrived 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 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. Government officials leased falsely imprisoned blacks to small-town entrepreneurs, provincial farmers, and dozens of corporations—including U.S. Steel—looking for cheap and abundant labor. 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.
The neoslavery system exploited legal loopholes and federal policies that discouraged prosecution of whites for continuing to hold black workers against their wills. As it poured millions of dollars into southern government treasuries, the new slavery also became a key instrument in the terrorization of African Americans seeking full participation in the U.S. political system.
Based on a vast record of original documents and personal narratives, Slavery by Another Name unearths the lost stories of slaves and their descendants who journeyed into freedom after the Emancipation Proclamation and then back into the shadow of involuntary servitude. It also reveals the stories of those who fought unsuccessfully against the re-emergence of human labor trafficking, the modern companies that profited most from neoslavery, and the system’s final demise in the 1940s, partly due to fears of enemy propaganda about American racial abuse at the beginning of World War II.
Slavery by Another Name is a moving, sobering account of a little-known crime against African Americans, and the insidious legacy of racism that reverberates today.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
Crucial, mind-blowing book on the costs of the the failure of Reconstruction July 3, 2008
As a former grad school history student interested in how Reconstruction and the failure of Radical Reconstruction failed black people and led to years of racial violence and labor oppression (full disclosure: I'm white, born in Britain, lived in the US for nineteen years) this book was very interesting. I can't say the findings he makes are shocking, but the extent of Blackmon's research make the conclusions all the more credible and puts in sharp relief the extent and depth of racism which existed in the South, from the time of the Emancipation Proclamation until World War Two. In addition, his thorough research has documented how black people were, by virtue of the racism which so pervaded Southern life, at the mercy of the most basic local laws.
That this book could be written is an indictment of the pervasiveness of racism. Although there are instances of decent white people attempting to stem the tide of racism which seemed to dominate every aspect of southern life, by and large, the efforts were completely inadequate to address such a pervasive, all-encompassing set of beliefs.
Blackmon has assembled a detailed, damning, catalog of crimes committed from the time of the end of Reconstruction through the beginning of the Second World War. The particular area he examines is the ability of large mining and industrial concerns in the South to bundle large numbers of black men into debt peonage in the South, almost without exception, simply on account of their violation of flimsy vagrancy laws created to penalize black men after the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. The legal powers of clerks of the court and sheriffs, in addition to the poisonous, universal racism of the South, ensured that the arrest and conviction process was almost without exception, a foregone conclusion.
The sources that Blackmon has found and applied are not controversial. They are county records, municipal records, census documents, and business records, some prior academic historical works, and the rare primary account of some of these crimes. By these documents, he has re-created, in multiple instances, legal process by which black men were held in virtual slavery. That in itself is the most damning indictment. Whites were so widely invested in this legal framework that the meager efforts to bring it down were damned by the burden of heavy layers of southern resentment toward perceived interlopers, by Southern belief that Yankees had no business regulating what southern whites claimed to believe was a unique relationship among black and white folks, and by, even more essentially, the economic benefits accrued by the system of debt peonage which the subjugation of black people facilitated.
There were occasional efforts to address the debt peonage which had been re-established in the South. A New York paper's expose of the conditions at one business prompted a federal investigation in 1903 which ultimately led to the trial of several men who had engaged in debt peonage. Only one conviction, however, was secured. The judge in the case, a Judge Jones, seemed a very decent man. However, ultimately, it is clear that he could not bring himself to confront the full breadth of the system of debt peonage, once he realized the extent of the system. He would not criminalize the myriad ways in which the tentacles of debt peonage facilitated the great wealth which was accumulating in the South. The judge was lobbied and threatened by many who felt their way of life and their legal standing was under threat if a thorough examination of the workings of the labor system in the South was undertaken.
Blackmon does not set out to offer justifications or suggest that there is some broader concern which we, as modern readers cannot see. It seems clear that this business system disgusts Blackmon to his core. That said, he does not blink, thankfully, from reporting the darkest secrets of the economic system in the South during the late 1800s and early 1900s. It is truly painful, painful reading for nearly anyone who believes in the best ideals of the United States. But we must confront this dreadful history if we are to realize the idealistic ideals which our Founders claimed to aim for.
Blackmon's book, as mentioned, is painstakingly researched. He spared no expense and left no stone unturned in order to tell this story. He does not need to make giant leaps of faith or extrapolations to reach conclusions which can be debated by critics, talking heads, and the like. The book is so well-documented that most claims are supported by the primary documents. If you want to learn something about the system of forced labor and debt peonage in the South, or believe that with the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, that the history of America for black people entered a completely different chapter. This book will surely be a touchstone for historians interested in race relations and labor history in the South during the post-bellum period and for laypeople (it is, tonally and in terms of language, easily accessible) for a long, long time. This book is just that good, just that important, and just that powerful.
Slavery by Another Name: A Painful History June 24, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This summer I was determined not to read a book on slavery or the black experience, and to devote more time to reading fiction. However, after seeing Mr. Blackmon on the Travis Smiley Show, I changed my mind. This book was captivating and heart-wrenching. It was well researched, and poignantly written. The stories were painful to read, as I frequently found myself imagining the pain that my people endured. I was equally moved by the lawyers and judges who were determined to dismantle this inhumane institution. As a professor who teaches African American music, work songs, blues, and spirituals have a deeper meaning. They clearly reflect our experiences as a people. Blue singer and composer Willie Dixon was sent to a prison farm, and heard all forms of African American music. His experience is documented in "I am the Blues." He says that blues had a deeper meaning to him after his imprisonment. I will never teach African American music the same after the reading "Slavery by Another Name." Finally, Senator Obama's nomination has more historical significance given the measures that whites took to limit black participation in politics. We have come a long as a people and as a nation.
PROUD OF AMERICA? June 21, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I haven't read this book yet, but was introduced to it on Bill Moyers Journal this week. I know it's a 5-Star book already. It occurred to me that with this book, and the publications and documentaries on the destruction of the American Indian, slavery, our aggression towards Mexico and the displacement of Hawaii's Monarchy and its people (among others), the question of whether I am "proud" of America is a bit difficult to answer. When Michelle Obama said she was "at last proud of America", I didn't take it as an insult, but rather as an expression of truth. I wonder if she has read this book. An people wonder why Jeremiah Wright was angry? I bet he read this book! I'm a white senior citizen reared in Georgia. My grandfather was a supervisor on a turpentine plantation in south Georgia the first part of the 20th century (1910-1942) and I can't help but wonder if there were re-enslaved blacks under his supervision. He may not have been a member of the KKK, but he certainly agreed with what they did, so I'm afraid to find out, but I will, or will try. Why don't Americans read more? What's happened to our education system that we don't expose everything, warts and all? It's enough to make you spit!
The Truth June 5, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
If you are really interested in what happened to Black Americans post slavery to early WWII, this book is a must read. This book exposes alot of hidden facts that our "wonderful" education system does not teach you in history courses. Slavery did not end with the Civil War, but that is what certain groups want you to believe. The truth hurts.
Long time coming June 4, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I must say I truly enjoyed a fresh look at Slavery by Another Name. I shared this book and some if it's passage's with family and friends, and they were surprised at what they learned about yet another part of history for Afro-Americans. I would ask every American to read this book, especially those who don't know any or all of their history.
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