Slave Labor in the South
Colton Henley
Essay 1 The article “The New Slavery in the South” written by a Georgia Negro Peon is a very informative source. The article is written about an African American sharecropper’s experience, and the methods that were used to keep them enslaved and the conditions they were expected to thrive in. I am going to discuss the methods that were used and address the issue of black resistance to the white power structure in the south.
Many methods were illustrated in the article “A Georgia Sharecropper’s Story of Forced Labor ca. 1900”. The author discussed how the White Power in the New South would use “Trickery methods” to force prisoners to work for free on the plantations. They used these methods to decrease labor costs which ultimately boosted the economy. One method discussed in this article was peonage, a system where an employer compelled a worker to pay off a debt with work. The most common way to secure laborers for the larger peonage camps was to urge a man, charged with some petty crime, to plead guilty and an agent would pay his fine and it would save him from being sent to jail. Before this fine is paid however the man I required to sign a paper which signifies he is willing to go to the farm and work off the amount of the fine. When he arrives at the farm he has to be fed and clothed and these things are charged to his account so by the time he has paid off one debt he has another one built up. This continuous cycle keeps men stuck on the peon camps. In the article he shared that white landowners would pay women slaves to seduce men into their quarters and when they would enter they arrested them and would charge the men with “adultery” they would be charged an outrageous amount and unable to pay it off they were left with no other choice but to work their debt off on a plantation. Another method discussed in this article is convict leasing. Southern states and counties began leasing “convicts” to commercial enterprises. Within a few
Essay 1 The article “The New Slavery in the South” written by a Georgia Negro Peon is a very informative source. The article is written about an African American sharecropper’s experience, and the methods that were used to keep them enslaved and the conditions they were expected to thrive in. I am going to discuss the methods that were used and address the issue of black resistance to the white power structure in the south.
Many methods were illustrated in the article “A Georgia Sharecropper’s Story of Forced Labor ca. 1900”. The author discussed how the White Power in the New South would use “Trickery methods” to force prisoners to work for free on the plantations. They used these methods to decrease labor costs which ultimately boosted the economy. One method discussed in this article was peonage, a system where an employer compelled a worker to pay off a debt with work. The most common way to secure laborers for the larger peonage camps was to urge a man, charged with some petty crime, to plead guilty and an agent would pay his fine and it would save him from being sent to jail. Before this fine is paid however the man I required to sign a paper which signifies he is willing to go to the farm and work off the amount of the fine. When he arrives at the farm he has to be fed and clothed and these things are charged to his account so by the time he has paid off one debt he has another one built up. This continuous cycle keeps men stuck on the peon camps. In the article he shared that white landowners would pay women slaves to seduce men into their quarters and when they would enter they arrested them and would charge the men with “adultery” they would be charged an outrageous amount and unable to pay it off they were left with no other choice but to work their debt off on a plantation. Another method discussed in this article is convict leasing. Southern states and counties began leasing “convicts” to commercial enterprises. Within a few