Thousands of innocent blacks were coerced into forced
labor between the 1870s and 1940s. Countless black men were charged with the spurious offense of vagrancy, which
could have been applied to almost any black man in the rural South. Then they were brought before a county judge and
fined. Because many of the men couldn’t afford to pay the fines, they were sentenced to a term of hard labor. Court and
legal fees were levied. As a result, their sentences were often extended; they would work for a portion of their sentence
to pay off their fines for vagrancy and the remainder of their sentence to pay off their court fees. After their sentence
was determined, their labor and, for all practical purposes, their bodies were sold to mine owners, lumbermen, planters,
railroads, or corporations. In return the company paid a monthly fee to the county, which would eventually satisfy the
convicts’ outstanding fines and fees.