The 13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution states that:
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
The 13th Amendment thus formally abolished slavery as a formal institution in the United States. However, the second part of the Amendment which states that slavery and involuntary servitude could be used as a punishment for a crime allowed for de facto slavery to continue.
Throughout the United States, local and state governments began implementing laws that directly targeted Black and African American populations. These laws, commonly referred to as Jim Crow Laws, led to the disproportionate arrests of Black and Brown populations in the U.S. These individuals would then receive long incarceration sentences where they would be tasked with labor and subjected to conditions that many experienced in slavery.
Examples of these laws include:
- Vagrancy laws. Vagrancy laws made it a criminal offense to be poor, idle, dissolute, immoral, drunk, lewd, or suspicious. In the majority of locations in the Jim Crow Southern United States, Black and African Americans were only hired to work as field laborers or domestic servants which looked strikingly similar to pre-existing forms of slavery. If they did not occupy one of these jobs, they could be arrested for not having a job and would be sentenced for criminal behavior and required to work once imprisoned.
- Sundown towns. Sundown towns were municipalities where only white Americans resided. They utilized laws, intimidation, and/or violence to prohibit non-white individuals from living there. In locations that had laws barring the presence of non-white people, Black and African American people were arrested if found in the area after the sun set, and could be subjected to imprisonment if found guilty.
These are just a couple of examples of the ways in which the 13th Amendment allowed for de facto slavery to continue in the United States. Historians, sociologists, and other scholars have contriubted extensive research to trace the legacy of the 13th Amendment. Michelle Alexander's book The New Jim Crow examines how the Prison Industrial Complex traces back to the Reconstruction period.
The House Joint Resolution Proposing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, January 31, 1865