The Rebirth of Caste (pgs. 30-35) PDF
Document Details
Uploaded by Sociologist
P.S. 298 Dr. Betty Shabazz
Alexander
Tags
Summary
This document, part of a larger work by Alexander, discusses the terrorist campaign that led to the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and the abandonment of civil rights legislation. It explores the convict leasing system as a form of forced labor against African Americans. The document analyzes how this period of history led to the establishment of Jim Crow laws.
Full Transcript
30 THE NEW JIM CHOW Tl·IE RF.BIRTH OF CASTE 31 The terrorist campaign proved highly successful. ··Rede...
30 THE NEW JIM CHOW Tl·IE RF.BIRTH OF CASTE 31 The terrorist campaign proved highly successful. ··Redemption" resulted in the withdrawal of federal troops from the South and the effective aban- donment of African Americans and all those who had fought for or sup- ported an ev.alitarian racial order. The federal government no longer made any effort to enforce federnl civil rights legislation, and funding for the Freedmen's Bure,1u was slashed to such a degree that the agency became virtually defunct. Once.igain, vagrancy laws and other laws defining activities such as "mis- chief" and "insulting gestures" as crimes were enforced vigorously against blacks. The aggressive enforcement of these criminal offenses opened up an enormous market for convict leasing, in which prisoners were contracted out as laborers to the highest private bidder. Douglas Blackmon, in Slavery by Another Name, describes how tens of thousands of African Americans were arbitrarily arrested
