Tomorrow is the groundbreaking ceremony for the new building for theNational Museum of African American History. (The museum, created by an act of Congress in 2003, is currently located in a gallery of the National Museum of American History.) Well it's about time, isn't it? African Americans have been a part of US history since the founding of the country. They have conributed to our economy in ways that most other people have not. Without their free (slave) labor, the country would not perhaps have become as srong as it did. A recent PBS broadcast showed how even once slavery was abolished, white businesspeople managed to keep it alive so that their businesses could thrive. All they had to do was to rent a black man from prison. And if the supply ran low, there were always trumped up charges on which black men could be arrested to keep up the supply. Businesses in Birmingham, Alabama took full advantage of this labor to mine the coal and other raw materials that they needed for their thriving steel industry When this scam was finally outlawed, a new way to get free labor was invented - the chain gang. Chain gangs did not work for individual business owners but worked on public projects such as road building. This was the worst yet as no one had a financial investment in these men so that there was no incentive to treat them well. When one died, more were available for free.
When I spoke with my partner at the diversity workshop we attended earlier in the semester, he said that one reason he is reluctant to talk about race because he thinks that peole will look at him and sigh saying, "...another angry young black man." After seeing this documentary, I am angry too.
http://video.pbs.org/program/slavery-another-name/
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