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Convict leasing in the south in 
this period becomes a new way

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of racial control among white southerners
attempting to limit African American

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economic independence and 
freedom in general.

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And what that means is that 
state officials would sell

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the labor of an African America 
prisoner to a private contractor.

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The terms of that agreement 
usually involved a period of time,

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say ten days for a very 
minor sentence to up to a year.

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And in exchange for getting the labor
of the prisoner and taking full custody

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of the prisoner by the private contractor,
the state would receive revenue.

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What that meant in terms of what
convict leasing involved was that

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African Americans would work in any
industry, whether working for

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a private farmer, whether it was in
a brick making factory, a coal mine,

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any number of business concerns and
the business owner would have

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absolute dominion over the Black person
for the period of time of the lease.

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But once you were in the system,
you could spend the rest of

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your life there and that was a direct
consequence of the reality of being

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a convict lease and having to fight
literally to survive day by day

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in incredibly brutal conditions.