By turns moving, sobering, and shocking, this unprecedented Pulitzer Prize-winning account reveals the stories of those who fought unsuccessfully against the re-emergence of human labor trafficking, the companies that profited most from neoslavery, and the insidious legacy of racism that reverberates today. Following the Emancipation Proclamation, convicts—mostly black men—were “leased” through forced labor camps operated by state and federal governments. Using a vast record of original documents and personal narratives, Douglas A. Blackmon brings to light one of the most shameful chapters in American history.

The Wedding--An Industrial Slavery--Slavery's Increase--Green Cottenham's World--The Slave Farm of John Pace--Slavery is not a Crime--The Indictments--A Summer of Trials, 1901--A River of Anger--The Disapprobation of God--Slavery Affirmed--New South Rising--The Arrest of Green Cottenham--Anatomy of a Slave Mine--Everywhere was Death--Atlanta, the South's Finest City--Freedom.