Slavery_by_another_name: Our future written in the past !!!

New Orleans 1874, during post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Clash between the (racially integrated) Police and the (segregationist) White League on Canal Street (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The original full length documentary made after the Pulitzer-prize winning book of the same name by Douglas A. Blackmon. The rarely told history of a system of forced labor, in existence in the Southern US between the end of the post-Civil War Reconstruction and WWII. A heartwrenching story about revenge for a lost war, racism, raw greed and cruelty, all masked as criminal justice, and about the deep-seeted unwillingness of the Federal government to end these unconstitutional practices of the states. The cheap labor turned out to be a pillar of the US export and most politicians were not willing to risk losing their white voters over a civil rights-issue involving black convicts, guilty or not. It took a world war and a visionary leader like FDR to begin making an end to this miscarriage of justice.
For those who are interested in the history of minorities and/or the American justice system, the importance of this documentary cannot be overstressed. Enjoy!


If you want to know more about what happenned to the freed slaves in the years just after the civil war, the Reconstruction period leading up to 80 years of cruel segregation and the corrupt justice system mentioned in the movie above, I would advice this documentary, in two pieces: "Reconstruction. The Second Civil War".
-part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiIRmFNqQIw&feature=related
-part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgtvdgkpdYY&feature=related

Douglas A. Blackmon gives a lecture for the Smithsonian about his book here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPlk41mNDuM

All copyrights remain by the original owners. I do not claim any of this as my own work in any way.

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• Slavery By Another Name: Book & PBS Program
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• Two Forms Of Slavery That Still Exist In America