Researchers have recently been looking at centuries-old prison records, trying to figure out the link between slavery and mass incarceration.
During enslavement, many prisons only had a handful of Black people. But once the Civil War loomed? They were transformed – fast.
For instance, Alabama’s prison population was only 1% Black in 1850 – but after the Civil War that number hit 85%!
In Georgia, suddenly 21 times as many formerly enslaved people were ensnared by the prison system once slavery ended. This was no coincidence.
Enslavers weren’t about to just give up all the money they made from slavery. From coal mines to turpentine factories, “freed” Black people continued to make this country profits from behind prison gates. And they frequently ended up there for “crimes” like renting a house, carrying a firearm, or even just being unemployed!
According to historian Heather Ann Thompson, prisons filled up with Black people so quickly after enslavement because they “depended upon ... equating Blackness with inherent criminality.”
In other words, being Black was itself a crime. Sound familiar?
As we talk about prison reform, or even abolition, it's easy to forget that these systems didn’t always exist. They were created – not that long ago. Our people had lives before slavery and mass incarceration.
If prisons could fill up with Black people overnight, who's to say they can't EMPTY within this generation?