Yesterday, I finished reading "Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II" by Douglas Blackmon, which recently won a Pulitzer Prize. I'd heard the author interviewed a year or so back, when the book came out, and had it on my list since.
I've rarely read a book that made me so angry, yet taught me so much. The book shows how, after the Civil War, government and industry in the South conspired to essentially enslave thousands of (mostly young) black men (and some women). In doing so, they also created an environment that discouraged blacks from seeking true independence.
The system worked as follows. A black man would be arrested on a flimsy charge (often vagrancy, defined as not having a job) or even no real charge. In a hearing before the local justice of the peace, there'd be no evidence presented and he'd have no opportunity to defend himself.
Upon conviction, he'd be assessed a fine, plus excessive court fees. (Pretty much everyone involved in the process got paid based on these fees.) When he couldn't pay, which was almost always, a white businessman (farmer, industrialist, etc.) would offer to pay the fine and fees in exchange for a term of work. With no other choice, the men would sign.
Once the man began working, he'd be charged all kinds of other fees by the employer that would keep him trapped in that job. In addition, many of these employers were quite cruel to the workers, far more cruel than pre-War slaveholders had generally been, because their investment in these men was small and there was essentially an infinite supply.
So the local officials made money by arresting lots of people. The businessmen made money by having slave labor. And the white citizens were pleased that blacks were being returned "to their place." (I'm not just inferring that last; there are plenty of direct quotes to that effect in the book.)
This system also meant that blacks lived in fear of being brought into this system, so accepted all kinds of rules to live by. In many places, for example, there were laws that said that a black person couldn't leave one employer for another without the first employer's permission.
Despite an attempt by the federal government to attack this problem in the early years of the 20th century, this practice continued until World War II, when the federal government realized the propaganda value it offered the US's enemies, and finally the Justice Department got serious about cleaning it up.
The book is well-written and engaging, though difficult to read for the story it tells. It is also extensively footnoted.
Reading it has me rethinking my view on reparations (though the author explicitly says that's not what he's proposing), and certainly considering the question of whether the companies who benefited from this system (US Steel is one) have a responsibility to do something for the community that enabled them to become so wealthy.
It also has me rethinking the conventional wisdom that says that the black family was destroyed by the welfare system. It seems to me that this practice surely emasculated black men, and must have had a devasting effect on families, long before welfare entered the picture.
I can't recommend this book strongly enough:
http://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Another-Name-Re-Enslavement-Americans/dp/0385722702/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242911202&sr=8-1Tamar
