Emily Neumann, Staff writer

It is commonly accepted that the United States put an end to slavery when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. In reality, this document did not signal the end of slavery. The film Slavery by Another Name and its accompanying discussion panel illustrated this fact during a September 17 event in Geddes Hall.

The date was all too appropriate, as September 15 marked the anniversary of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Birmingham church by the Ku Klux Klan in 1963.  The film shed light on the harsh realities that African Americans faced as they emerged from slavery and struggled to integrate into mainstream American life by focusing on individuals’ stories in various servitude states.

Organized by Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns, the film is part of a year-long seminar entitled “Hyper-Incarceration.”  The seminar will focus on how minorities in the United States have struggled with a great lack of dignity and justice, in both the past and in the present.  Monica Telzlaff, associate professor of History at Indiana University South Bend, stated while introducing the film, “All of society were losers as these men were cheated out of a decent life.”

The film explores the various forms of forced labor that kept African Americans in bondage up until the beginning of World War II.  For a limbo period of 80 years, black southerners were no longer slaves, but were far from free.  Despite the establishment of the 14th and 15th Amendments and the radical Reconstruction era following the end of the Civil War, African Americans were still held in captivity.  One state of forced labor assumed the form of peonage, a servitude in which debtors are bound to their creditors.  This work frequently forced African Americans to work for many years, and even once their debt was paid, their owners would often deny them freedom.

Vagrancy statutes, or vague, criminalizing laws made it increasingly easy to assign jail time to the African American population.  For example, it was a crime in Southern states if someone could not provide proof of employment at any given moment.  This vagrancy law led to forms of forced labor known as convict leasing, which is a form of low cost, abundant labor.  The conditions in which convicts worked were terrible and included locations such as coal mines, railroads and forests.  These highly physical jobs typically involved work that began as early as three in the morning and lasted until 8 at night.

Historian Mary Ellen Curtin states that the fact that most convicts of this period were African Americans “cements the relationship between criminality and race.”  As demonstrated by the film, whites were also criminalized, but they made up only ten percent of the total forced labor.

After the presentation of the film, Alex Mikulich, associate professor at Loyola University New Orleans; Laurie Cassidy, associate professor at Marywood University; and Margie Pfiel, associate professor at Notre Dame, led a discussion with audience members in order to facilitate a better understanding of these cultural concerns.

“There’s value in looking at these stories of witnesses,” Cassidy stated, pointing to the stories in the film of individuals who were victims of forced labor, as well as descendants of those who dealt with the ordeals following the Emancipation Proclamation.  Cassidy also went on to explain how tackling these issues of inequality is a moral imperative: “As Catholics, we have to engage these situations culturally for the preservation of our faith.”

To learn more about the Hyper-Incarceration seminar and its future events, visit the Center for Social Concerns’ website.

Emily Neumann is a junior nursing major and hyperactive sleep expert.  Sometimes she’s a college student, but she’s mainly a sleep expert.  Contact her at eneuma01@saintmarys.edu.