Many believe that slavery ended in the United States in 1863. That is wrong. There are known cases of descendants of slaves and share croppers who have been forced into indentured servitude up until 1973.
Peonage as this type of servitude is known existed in 16 states. Mostly southern states but it did exist in states like New York and Illinois.
The legacy of peonage are that entire communities in both Mississippi and Louisiana live in extreme poverty. Some towns don't even have local governments let alone running water and gas.
Check out my interview with Atoinette Harrell of the organization Gathering of The Heart. Gathering of the Heart is a group that is attempting to help these people not only with food, water, and clothes. But also by getting their story out there. You can listen by using the link below:
http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/LTHSpecial...
Posted By: George Cook
Wednesday, February 18th 2009 at 8:53PM
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