Peonage

"Peonage" by Lafayette M. Hershaw is a historical account written in the early 20th century. This book explores the systemic issues surrounding labor practices and racial discrimination in the United States, particularly focusing on the laws and societal norms that have perpetuated a condition of forced labor among African Americans since the abolition of slavery. Hershaw sheds light on how peonage—essentially compelled labor under the guise of contract law—has been maintained through legislation, effectively evading the protections promised by the Thirteenth Amendment. In this treatise, Hershaw meticulously examines the evolution of labor laws in the former slave-holding states, illustrating how they have been manipulated to impose new forms of servitude on Black workers. He discusses various legal frameworks that allow for the co-option of labor, such as vagrancy laws and restrictions on labor contracts, which often trap individuals in cycles of debt and exploitation. The author argues that these laws serve not just to control, but to dehumanize African Americans by stripping them of their rights and reducing their status to that of peons bound to their employers by coercive legislation, revealing a grim continuity of racial oppression in American society.