Ave Duvernay 13th Sparknotes

Despite slavery ending with the thirteenth amendment, slavery was still maintained in practice long after the end of the American Civil War due to the same amendment. This idea comes from the documentary, 13th, directed by Ava DuVernay. I chose this piece of media because it directly connects to the class lectures.
The documentary begins with a short video of former President Obama voicing that despite the United States holding only five percent of the world’s population, it holds twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners. After the short clip, 13th explains the ties between the racist legislature that arose in the United States after the Civil War and the end of slavery through the thirteenth amendment. The amendment states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” (Baltzell). Since forced servitude was allowed for those as punishment for crime, Southern states soon criminalized minor offense, arresting former slaves and forcing them into labor when the fines could not be paid. The amendment that freed the slaves encouraged the mass incarceration of
In class, we discussed the role of the criminal justice system and that the law does not bring justice to all. This relates to 13th in that the majority of American citizens manipulated the law to unfairly demonize minorities and expand the prison population. This expansion in prison population began with a loophole for slavery and has continued through today as a means to maintain the corporate interests in the prison system. The documentary continues with describing the labels minority youths experience as a result of these years of discrimination in the criminal justice