Based on the quote above by James Grossman, how did emancipation change the life of slavery owners? How did emancipation change the life of enslaved people?
The freedom made the slave owner’s daily lives and operations more difficult because they were used to getting free labour with no worries. In most cases, the Blacks were at their disposal. Moreover, they had to be creative with ratifying laws that would ensure that they had enough prisoners to work on their farms, as they could not control the blacks any longer (Hines 7).
On the other hand, the slaves were not as free as directed by the government since the whites used the law enforcement agencies to ensure that Blacks were being imprisoned because of flimsy reasons, including murder, pig theft, and burglary. The blacks who were found guilty were leased out to anyone in need of workers, especially the coal miners. Consequently, the new form of was worse to the blacks than the initial system. The new system was unfair to the Black Americans.
The end of Reconstruction ushered in oppressive legislation – such as the pig laws and vagrancy codes – that unjustly targeted African Americans. How did these laws criminalize black life and aid in the rise of the convict leasing system? Could the Federal government have done more to protect the freedom of African-Americans?
Many in the Congress did not think about the slaves when discussing the 13th Amendment. Instead, they were concerned with the White labour when deliberating on the Amendment. Therefore, the Federal Government opted to do more to liberate the African Americans based on the principles of the U.S. constitution (Hines 11). The Blacks gained progressive freedom through social movements, which is the most difficult path to freedom.
Exposés of the convict labour system described it as “worse than slavery.” In what ways was it worse than slavery and in what ways was it similar?
The convict labour system was worse than the slavery system because, before the civil war and the emancipation, the slave owners had a long-term interest and investment with the slaves. Consequently, they took the wellbeing of the slaves into consideration, as they wanted them alive (Hines 24). With the new slavery concept that permitted the leasing of slaves leasing from law enforcement agencies and prisons, mining companies, as well as other institutions that accommodated slaves, could work them to death as illustrated in the documentary. The slave owners were confident that the death of the prisoner had little or no effects on their businesses as other prisoners would be sent to replace the dead prisoner. Black Americans who managed to keep away from freedom were not so lucky either as they could still be entrapped into the peonage system that required them to serve their debtors.
Discuss the economic aspects of convict leasing and debt peonage. How was convict leasing integral to southern industrialization?
The convict leasing system was timely in filling the labour void. The state government would lease out prisoners to numerous private businesses, including planters, logging companies, coal mining, among other. Therefore, the Southern state companies continued receiving exploitable and cheap labour, which was a great deal for them. These systems have had far-reaching ramifications that are still felt in the contemporary U.S. society that has never integrated the African-Americans. Moreover, those who were in debt peonage never had a chance to live their lives freely as they were answerable to their creditors. On the other hand, they could not enjoy their investments or be fair competitors in the market system.
Works Cited
Hines, Ellen. The African American Odyssey. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2013. Print.
