"Slavery By Another Name" airs tonight at 8 p.m. on PBS.

[NNN0LHI]

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/02/13/slavery-by-another-name/

'Slavery By Another Name' documentary has Minn. connection
by Cathy Wurzer, Minnesota Public Radio
February 13, 2012

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A new documentary to be broadcast tonight, produced partly in Minnesota, shows how thousands of African Americans were imprisoned on trumped-up charges after the Civil War and leased to the owners of factories, farms and mines as slave laborers.

MPR's Cathy Wurzer discussed the documentary, "Slavery By Another Name," with author Douglas Blackmon and producer Catherine Allen. The film is based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Blackmon and was produced in conjunction with Twin Cities Public Television. It airs on PBS stations around the country tonight.

An edited transcript of the interview is below.

Cathy Wurzer: The history most of us read, of course, indicates that the tough laws passed post-Reconstruction, the prison laborers, and then later the chain gangs, stemmed from the high crime rate among African Americans — with the narrative that these folks didn't have the social or cultural tools to handle freedom. But your research busts that myth. As a Southerner, what did you think when you first discovered this?

[joeybee12]

1. Yeesh....knr

Sounds like an interesting, if infuriating watch.

[Octafish]

2. Lincoln wouldn't have stood for any of that.

The nation would be a much better place then -- and today -- if he had continued as President.

Thanks for the heads-up, Don. A most important piece of U.S. history that had been hidden for a century and a half -- with implications for us in the 99-percent trickle down globe of today.

[niyad]

3. k and r--and thanks for letting us know--setting a reminder now

[grasswire]

4. I haven't gotten to that book yet

I saw the author with Bill Moyers a couple of years ago. Important stuff. Kick.

[Matariki]

5. Or the privatization of prisons in the 21st century...

[JustAnotherGen]

6. Wow

What an amazing program. We heard of and knew of these things happening - but my great grandfather and grandfather were just lucky to never get railroaded by that. And to see how outrageously the Federal Government sucked at protecting the civil liberties and rights of black Americans . . . Even when we thought we knew everything there was to know about how the Caucasian Confederates winning the peace - those of us who had family members living under their horrific regime but were spared their trickster dirtbag scams - just got another reminder that our ancestors really were NOT fully American until the mid 1960's.

To the op - thanks for the heads up yesterday - Im glad I didn't miss this.

[Starry Messenger]

7. k&r