On Nov 09, 1866: Texas Legislature Authorizes Leasing of County Jail Inmates for Profit http://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/nov/09
@Incognitim And in the South, it’s still happening.
@AlliFlowers
I've always wondered what kind of country/world we'd be living in if Reconstruction hadn't come apart at the seams.
@Incognitim I don’t think my mind can handle the speculation.
@AlliFlowers
'The 13th amendment's exception permitting the continued enslavement of people with criminal convictions, however, enabled the South to continue exploiting the labor of Black people, & many states seized that opportunity.
In addition to passing Black Codes that criminalized acts like unemployment & public assembly when committed by freedmen, many Southern states also passed laws authorizing the leasing of the larger, predominately Black convict populations these statutes created.'