Christine Venuti
Themes in Modern History
Prof. Matthew Shaughnessy
November 9, 2012

Based on the history of prison labor in 20th century U.S. South, should local governments be allowed to privatize incarceration in their individual states? According to theologian James Crone and legal scholar Michelle Alexander, what are the socio-cultural ramifications of such actions?

Back in the late 1800’s blacks were dehumanized and were made a mockery. James Crone, in his book, talks about how blacks or people of color would be lynched or would be threatened to be lynched just for walking the wrong way or giving a wrong look. The superior whites would hold events to watch a black man be hung and burned. Thousands of whites would attend including men, women, and children. Crone called it a family affair. Children would collect chopped off body parts as souvenirs and postcards would be made from pictures of the burning human and sent to relatives with quotes such as “this was our barbeque last night.” It was unjust to treat any human being that way let alone to treat just one race that way because they looked different. Mobs of white Americans would stop a black person and use violence on them just because they could and they knew they would get away with it. Lynchers were always mysteriously unknown to churches and police authority but very well known in the media. Whites turned the other way when it came to a black person back then. The lynching tree represented white power and “black death”. The only thing the Americans of color relied on was their faith. They knew that their faith was the only thing that a white person could not take away from them. They prayed and often related themselves to Jesus Christ. Jesus knew he did not deserve to be crucified, as the black people knew they did not deserve to be lynched or violated. To black males during that time,