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Chained in Silence: Black Women and Convict Labor in the New South
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In 1868, the state of Georgia began to make its rapidly growing population of prisoners available for hire. The resulting convict leasing system ensnared not only men but also African American women, who were forced to labor in camps and factories to make profits for private investors. In this vivid work of history, Talitha L. LeFlouria draws from a rich array of primary s
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Paperback, 280 pages
Published
March 15th 2016
by University of North Carolina Press
(first published April 1st 2015)
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Start your review of Chained in Silence: Black Women and Convict Labor in the New South

While a very tough book to read in terms of the human factor, the relevance of this story to our own time cannot be understated. As the author notes at the end of this book,
"Today black women are still afflicted by the social, political and economic vices that predisposed them to arrest, conviction and incarceration in the past...In order to better understand the modern carceral state and the complex relationship black women have with it, we must confront the past and listen even when it seems t ...more
"Today black women are still afflicted by the social, political and economic vices that predisposed them to arrest, conviction and incarceration in the past...In order to better understand the modern carceral state and the complex relationship black women have with it, we must confront the past and listen even when it seems t ...more

In Chained in Silence: Black Women and Convict Labor in the New South Talitha L. Leflouria details life for African American women in the post-emancipation era. Newly freedwomen had hoped for a new life where they could build or reunite with their families, have a home, and make a living on their own terms. What many found was a life of destitution and hardship and like their male counterparts, were often captured for various small or non-existent charges and relegated to hard labor through conv
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Mass incarceration has entered into the collective consciousness of Americans over the last decade with the help of works like Michelle Alexander’s ‘The New Jim Crow’ and Ava DuVernay’s documentary film, ‘The 13th’. The problem of mass incarceration, however, has largely been viewed through the prism of black men. Talitha LeFlouria Chained in Silence: Black Women and Convict Labor in the New South brings attention to the undervalued role black women have played in the exploitation of the prison
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Painful, excruciating, difficult to read but absolutely necessary. This isn't taught in American history classes and it very well should be.
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3.8 stars - This is an incredibly important and enlightening text with haunting narrative skill. I found it a bit difficult to dig into because it felt overly focused on the economic history of postbellum bound labor, but it definitely was critically informative and detailed. LeFlouria also takes extreme care and diligence in completing this history of "broken silences." Definitely recommend, but keep reading if you have a hard time getting into it.
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Sep 08, 2019
Karen
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
politics-ethics-philosophy
Well researched book about female incarceration in post civil war south. While there are few revelations from the prisoners themselves (because of illiteracy presumably), the author has done an in depth search of prison, court and other records to detail the inhumane treatment of mostly African American women convicts.

Tough read as this is mostly stringing together accounts of brutality to women convicts in Georgia as indentured labor switches post-civil-war from slavery to the 13th-amendment-allowed "slavery in case of crime". Adds some to the idea that Georgia was able to rapidly industrialize and modernize through leased convicts and chain gangs. The author gives women agency by showing that Georgia's gender-mixed approach to these institutions gave women convicts opportunity to perform skilled labor (blac
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Georgia history is required for all graduating high school students. Most schools teach the Civil War at least 3-times in the course of High School History. This should be required reading.
I knew the State's resources were built on the backs of slaves. It was news to me, however, the degree to which explicit profit was to be made on the backs of freed Black women - & the disparity between Alabama & Georgia's practices. This book discomforted. In a good way. Georgia, know your history! ...more
I knew the State's resources were built on the backs of slaves. It was news to me, however, the degree to which explicit profit was to be made on the backs of freed Black women - & the disparity between Alabama & Georgia's practices. This book discomforted. In a good way. Georgia, know your history! ...more

May 09, 2016
Sarah Gardner
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
southern-history
4.5-4.75. Compelling and impressive work of scholarship.
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