Rent Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II

Synopsis

“An astonishing book. . . . It will challenge and change your understanding of what we were as Americans ― and of what we are.” ― Chicago Tribune

In this groundbreaking historical exposé, Douglas A. Blackmon brings to light one of the most shameful chapters in American history ― an “Age of Neoslavery” that thrived from the aftermath of the Civil War through the dawn of World War II.

Using a vast record of original documents and personal narratives, Blackmon unearths the lost stories of slaves and their descendants who journeyed into freedom after the Emancipation Proclamation and then back into the shadow of involuntary servitude shortly thereafter. By turns moving, sobering, and shocking, this unprecedented 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.

“The genius of Blackmon’s book is that it illuminates both the real human tragedy and the profoundly corrupting nature of the Old South slavery as it transformed to establish a New South social order.” ― The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“A formidably researched, powerfully written, wrenchingly detailed narrative.” ― St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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