Thoughts on This Documentary

This is hard to watch. It makes me outraged that slavery continued after the Civil War. What this document depicts is evil. Someone could end up in forced labor for talking 'uppity' or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Think about all the black families that were destroyed or people who died because of this system. As hard as it is to watch this program, I think that everyone should view this documentary.

One thing that the continued forced labor of African Americans also did was continue poverty among all races in the south. If a business can lease labor that they don't have to pay or worry about the workers working conditions, then there is no reason why they will hire anyone that wants a fair wage for their work. Not only did this obviously hurt black people but it hurt poor whites and kept the southern economy from getting better for anyone but the wealthy.

I thought it was interesting that they gave names to the white people who bought supposedly free men. One part of me wonders how these individuals, like John Pace, could have lived with themselves but once you dehumanize another human being then you can justify doing any evil to that person. People like John Pace should have spent decade in jail.