ResistanceDecember 6, 1865

The 13th Amendment

Slavery is abolished, except as punishment for crime, a loophole that enables convict leasing.

Resources

The amendment abolishing slavery, ratified December 6, 1865.

Pulitzer-winning history of convict leasing and re-enslavement after the Civil War.

Connections to other moments, systems, and investigations, the links rarely drawn together.

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From Owned to Caste
The "except as a punishment for crime" clause became the legal hinge of the caste era, reused from convict leasing to mass incarceration.
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Chattel Slavery
Abolished the legal status of human beings as property, but left the convict-labor exception open.
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Convict Leasing & Debt Peonage
The amendment's "except as punishment for crime" clause became the loophole for forced prison labor.

The "except as a punishment for crime" clause became the legal hinge of the caste era, reused from convict leasing to mass incarceration.

Abolished the legal status of human beings as property, but left the convict-labor exception open.

The amendment's "except as punishment for crime" clause became the loophole for forced prison labor.