This groundbreaking historical expose unearths the lost stories of
enslaved persons and their descendants who journeyed into freedom
after the Emancipation Proclamation and then back into the shadow of
involuntary servitude shortly thereafter in “The Age of
Neoslavery.”
By turns moving,
sobering, and shocking, this unprecedented Pulitzer Prize-winning
account reveals the stories of those who fought unsuccessfully
against the re-emergence of human labor trafficking, the companies
that profited most from neoslavery, and the insidious legacy of
racism that reverberates today.
Following the
Emancipation Proclamation, convicts—mostly black men—were
“leased” through forced labor camps operated by state and federal
governments. Using a vast record of original documents and personal
narratives, Douglas A. Blackmon brings to light one of the most
shameful chapters in American history.
“An astonishing
book. . . . It will challenge and change your understanding of what
we were as Americans—and of what we are.” —Chicago Tribune