Newsweek Culture Feature: "Slavery After the Civil War"

Newsweek is featuring a multimedia presentation on post-Civil War re-enslavement of African Americans, "Slavery, After Freedom." The presentation includes a photo slideshow and narration by journalist/writer Douglas A. Blackmon based on his recently published book Slavery by Another Name: The Re-enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to WWII. This photo appears in the slide show, as well as on Blackmon's website dedicated to the book and the history it details. It shows men in a barracks cell in an Alabama slave camp where they lived when not working as slaves. Note that they are shackled together; they wore those shackles 24-7, and often developed infections where the metal dug into their flesh.

The audio isn't great (what's up with that, Newsweek?). It sounds like instead of getting him into a studio, they recorded Blackmon speaking on the phone with a cheap piezo mic. But still, it's an important feature. I blogged about Blackmon's book earlier this summer, here.