Slaves of the State

Black Incarceration from the Chain Gang to the Penitentiary

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Discrimination & Race Relations, Cultural Studies, African-American Studies, Political Science
Cover of the book Slaves of the State by Dennis Childs, University of Minnesota Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Dennis Childs ISBN: 9781452943640
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press Publication: February 27, 2015
Imprint: Univ Of Minnesota Press Language: English
Author: Dennis Childs
ISBN: 9781452943640
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Publication: February 27, 2015
Imprint: Univ Of Minnesota Press
Language: English

The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed in 1865, has long been viewed as a definitive break with the nation’s past by abolishing slavery and ushering in an inexorable march toward black freedom. Slaves of the State presents a stunning counterhistory to this linear narrative of racial, social, and legal progress in America.

Dennis Childs argues that the incarceration of black people and other historically repressed groups in chain gangs, peon camps, prison plantations, and penitentiaries represents a ghostly perpetuation of chattel slavery. He exposes how the Thirteenth Amendment’s exception clause—allowing for enslavement as “punishment for a crime”—has inaugurated forms of racial capitalist misogynist incarceration that serve as haunting returns of conditions Africans endured in the barracoons and slave ship holds of the Middle Passage, on plantations, and in chattel slavery.

Childs seeks out the historically muted voices of those entombed within terrorizing spaces such as the chain gang rolling cage and the modern solitary confinement cell, engaging the writings of Toni Morrison and Chester Himes as well as a broad range of archival materials, including landmark court cases, prison songs, and testimonies, reaching back to the birth of modern slave plantations such as Louisiana’s “Angola” penitentiary.

Slaves of the State paves the way for a new understanding of chattel slavery as a continuing social reality of U.S. empire—one resting at the very foundation of today’s prison industrial complex that now holds more than 2.3 million people within the country’s jails, prisons, and immigrant detention centers.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed in 1865, has long been viewed as a definitive break with the nation’s past by abolishing slavery and ushering in an inexorable march toward black freedom. Slaves of the State presents a stunning counterhistory to this linear narrative of racial, social, and legal progress in America.

Dennis Childs argues that the incarceration of black people and other historically repressed groups in chain gangs, peon camps, prison plantations, and penitentiaries represents a ghostly perpetuation of chattel slavery. He exposes how the Thirteenth Amendment’s exception clause—allowing for enslavement as “punishment for a crime”—has inaugurated forms of racial capitalist misogynist incarceration that serve as haunting returns of conditions Africans endured in the barracoons and slave ship holds of the Middle Passage, on plantations, and in chattel slavery.

Childs seeks out the historically muted voices of those entombed within terrorizing spaces such as the chain gang rolling cage and the modern solitary confinement cell, engaging the writings of Toni Morrison and Chester Himes as well as a broad range of archival materials, including landmark court cases, prison songs, and testimonies, reaching back to the birth of modern slave plantations such as Louisiana’s “Angola” penitentiary.

Slaves of the State paves the way for a new understanding of chattel slavery as a continuing social reality of U.S. empire—one resting at the very foundation of today’s prison industrial complex that now holds more than 2.3 million people within the country’s jails, prisons, and immigrant detention centers.

More books from University of Minnesota Press

Cover of the book The Lure of the North Woods by Dennis Childs
Cover of the book Aberrations in Black by Dennis Childs
Cover of the book A Capsule Aesthetic by Dennis Childs
Cover of the book Bioaesthetics by Dennis Childs
Cover of the book Karma Of Brown Folk by Dennis Childs
Cover of the book Swamplife by Dennis Childs
Cover of the book Dead Man's Rapids by Dennis Childs
Cover of the book The Intelligence of a Machine by Dennis Childs
Cover of the book Gestures by Dennis Childs
Cover of the book Cannibal Metaphysics by Dennis Childs
Cover of the book Care of the Species by Dennis Childs
Cover of the book Laurentian Divide by Dennis Childs
Cover of the book Marlene Dietrich by Dennis Childs
Cover of the book The Anime Ecology by Dennis Childs
Cover of the book Wastelanding by Dennis Childs
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy