Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas Blackmon follows the story of Green Cottenham, around a young African American man and his journey through the post slavery criminal justice system. The story of Green Cottenham and the convict lease system helps grasp our current issue of mass incarceration.
I believe the purpose of Green Cottenham story is to raise consciousness in american history, address it and take it as a lesson to learn from it. From Alabama, the youngest of nine children born to former slaves, Green Cottenham was arrested for vagrancy defined as ”The Offense of a person not being able to prove at a given moment that he or she is employed.” (Blackmon 1). Blackmon …show more content…
The only thing that drew a separation between the two systems was that they were called convicts instead of slaves. This system, like slavery was set up to benefit whites. When the need for cheap labor increased in the south, there was a surge in the number of arrest made, mostly black males (Blackmon 7). Convict leasing turned out to be more beneficial to companies than slavery to slaveholders. With convict leasing, companies had no incentive to keep their laborers alive. They did not buy them for the price they would buy slaves. They did not have to worry about clothing them nor feeding them. If they died they could buy more cheap labor (Blackmon 65). I took this as another play on the title, it drew a resemblance to how slaves were brought to the americas. The atlantic slave trade resulted in the deaths of many slaves, the conditions on the boats with cramped and dirty.
Prior to Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, I was not familiar with the convict leasing system. Now being more familiar with it I see how it contributes to mass incarceration and the prison system in the United States. This was the beginning of the criminal justice system. Prior to this, jails and being arrested was not common practice. This helped lay a foundation …show more content…
As mentioned above vagrancy laws almost specifically targeted blacks. There was no evidence suggesting a steep number for black crimes so go with the large number of those arrested. Laws were passed to specifically target blacks. Laws like changing employers without permission, vagrancy, riding freight cars without a ticket, miscegenation, or talking loudly in front of a white woman could all be used against black men (Blackmon 7). This reminded me of the laws passed to enforce the drug war. In a reading we did for class from The New Jim Crow, she writes something very similar to what Blackmon wrote. Alexander writes “(Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986) included mandatory minimum sentences for the distribution of cocaine, including far more severe punishment for distribution of crack-associated with blacks-than powder cocaine, associated with whites.” (Alexander 53). In both these cases we see laws that target blacks, both relatively close to blacks gaining new freedoms. Race played a large role in policy making. Post the civil war the country was in economic turmoil. The south had to rebuild, they needed cheap labor and convict leasing was a way out. In the 1980’s inner city communities were facing economic collapse. Factories were closing and jobs were moving to the suburbs (Alexander 50)“. Since the civil rights movement low-middle class whites suddenly had to compete with blacks the war on drug was perfectly timed
I believe the purpose of Green Cottenham story is to raise consciousness in american history, address it and take it as a lesson to learn from it. From Alabama, the youngest of nine children born to former slaves, Green Cottenham was arrested for vagrancy defined as ”The Offense of a person not being able to prove at a given moment that he or she is employed.” (Blackmon 1). Blackmon …show more content…
The only thing that drew a separation between the two systems was that they were called convicts instead of slaves. This system, like slavery was set up to benefit whites. When the need for cheap labor increased in the south, there was a surge in the number of arrest made, mostly black males (Blackmon 7). Convict leasing turned out to be more beneficial to companies than slavery to slaveholders. With convict leasing, companies had no incentive to keep their laborers alive. They did not buy them for the price they would buy slaves. They did not have to worry about clothing them nor feeding them. If they died they could buy more cheap labor (Blackmon 65). I took this as another play on the title, it drew a resemblance to how slaves were brought to the americas. The atlantic slave trade resulted in the deaths of many slaves, the conditions on the boats with cramped and dirty.
Prior to Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, I was not familiar with the convict leasing system. Now being more familiar with it I see how it contributes to mass incarceration and the prison system in the United States. This was the beginning of the criminal justice system. Prior to this, jails and being arrested was not common practice. This helped lay a foundation …show more content…
As mentioned above vagrancy laws almost specifically targeted blacks. There was no evidence suggesting a steep number for black crimes so go with the large number of those arrested. Laws were passed to specifically target blacks. Laws like changing employers without permission, vagrancy, riding freight cars without a ticket, miscegenation, or talking loudly in front of a white woman could all be used against black men (Blackmon 7). This reminded me of the laws passed to enforce the drug war. In a reading we did for class from The New Jim Crow, she writes something very similar to what Blackmon wrote. Alexander writes “(Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986) included mandatory minimum sentences for the distribution of cocaine, including far more severe punishment for distribution of crack-associated with blacks-than powder cocaine, associated with whites.” (Alexander 53). In both these cases we see laws that target blacks, both relatively close to blacks gaining new freedoms. Race played a large role in policy making. Post the civil war the country was in economic turmoil. The south had to rebuild, they needed cheap labor and convict leasing was a way out. In the 1980’s inner city communities were facing economic collapse. Factories were closing and jobs were moving to the suburbs (Alexander 50)“. Since the civil rights movement low-middle class whites suddenly had to compete with blacks the war on drug was perfectly timed