Examples Of Slavery In The Late 1800s

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The New Form of Slavery in the Late 1800s
The Thirteenth Amendment was supposed to have a positive impact on slavery; however, it became a new and unjust way to enslave African Americans and mulattoes. And due to the lack of knowledge, blacks and mulattoes were gullible and weak. The Thirteenth Amendment states in Prison Writing in 20th –Century America, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction (4).” Although the Thirteen Amendment abolished chattel slavery, former slave owners and judicial officials used the punishment clause to obtain slaves at no cost, created laws to criminalize being black, and maintain the pre-Civil-War status quo.
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Crimes such as “…mischief…. insulting gestures.… furnish written proof a job… having no visible means of support… loitering… vagrancy… disturbing the peace… creating a public nuisance… lewd and lascivious conduct… using profane language… and drunkenness (4).” These crimes was created to control blacks, and to keep them working.
After the laws were created, former slave owners, construction companies, and labor contractors would form ways to criminalize black men and women by falsely accusing them of crimes they never committed. And blacks didn’t stand a chance in defending themselves in court. It states that, “local sheriffs, police, and judges operating on the fee system obliged with alacrity (4-5).” Which means that they had to figure out a faster to get slaves and make a