> [!infobox] <s class="aside-in"><em>mentioned in 5 evergreens</em></s> #### [[Slavery became much cheaper after the Civil War]] Between [[black codes]] and [[convict leasing]], any petty crime could land a black person in the antebellum south in practical slavery. After convicting based off of [[black codes]], sentencing would involve labor to "cover" arbitrary fines, court fees, and housing costs. The main purpose was to keep the southern economy moving with a nearly free labor source. There was already a structure in place pre-civil war that would lease slaves from nearby farms. After the war, they would instead coerce the convicted man into signing a labor contract, and then use force and the law to keep them in slavery by another name. Rather than having to buy and house an enslaved person outright, farmers could now basically rent a slave, work them to the bone, and then give them back to the state. > [!wikipedia] [[convict leasing]] > > It could be lucrative for the states: in 1898, some 73% of Alabama's entire annual state revenue came from convict leasing. > African Americans, mostly adult males, due to "vigorous and selective enforcement of laws and discriminatory sentencing", made up the vast majority—though not all—of the convicts leased. works with:: [[Whiteness was originally a class distinction]] ### <hr class="footnote"/> **Status**:: #EVER/SPROUT *edited 7:35 AM - July 08, 2022* **Topics**:: [[black codes]], [[convict leasing]], [[debt peonage]] #### References ![[video - The Part of History You've always skipped neoslavery#Debt Peonage]]