At some moments it was possible for African American agricultural laborers to band together in
organizations that extended beyond families to include labor unions, civic organizations, and militias. In
Republican-controlled South Carolina in 1876, a massive labor strike spread inland from the Low Country,
as freedpeople, with support from the state militia, walked off their jobs in pursuit of better wages.40
Workers in the sugar-producing region of Louisiana were also particularly active, periodically organizing
across plantations to press for better wages and for opportunities to lease their own lands. Labor conflict
exploded in 1887 when sugar workers organized a great strike, galvanized in part by the Knights of Labor,
a national organization that sought to organize laborers across racial lines.41 In several Louisiana
parishes, black and white sugar workers went on strike at harvest time, demanding better pay. But they
were thwarted by plantation owners and by the state militia, which put down the strike and evicted
hundreds of black families from the land. A militia unit remained in the town of Thibodaux, Louisiana,
after the strike had been broken in the countryside. A tense situation exploded into violence on a late
November day when militia men, believing their authority was threatened, ran rampant through the
town, shooting African Americans at will. As in so many such incidents, no accurate casualty count was
ever made; modern scholars estimate, however, that on that day the state militia killed at least thirty
African American men and women and injured hundreds more.42 As these examples indicate, the
policies of southern state governments significantly shaped labor relations. Where Republicans held
political power, they raised taxes on land and personal property and passed “laborers’ lien” laws that
provided that employers would pay their employees first, before discharging other debt obligations.
When it came to encouraging small farmers to buy land, South Carolina went furthest, creating a state
land commission to purchase land and resell it on favorable terms to small farmers. In the early 1870s,
the experiment was notably successful, with about 14,000 black families and a few whites availing
themselves of this unusual route to landownership.43 Republican legislatures also invested heavily in
railroad development, which helped connect traditional southern port cities with the rural hinterlands,
creating transportation networks that encouraged yeomen farmers living in non-plantation districts to
try their hand at growing staple crops for sale at the market. When Democrats regained control, at
different moments in different states, in many areas they reversed the Republicans’ course. For instance,
Democrats passed laws that favored creditors and employers over laborers, and they reinstituted, in
racially neutral terms, harsh vagrancy laws akin to those passed during the immediate postwar years.
And when rural workers managed to organize for better conditions, Democratic governors readily called
out their militias to break strikes and support the resumption of low-wage plantation agriculture.4
White Southerners also turned to law enforcement officials to control the labor power of African
Americans and to press it into the service of white business owners. During the 1870s and 1880s, prison
officials increasingly leased prisoners to planters and other businessmen at a cost lower than the rate of
pay for free workers. The Thirteenth Amendment had exempted prisoners from its ban on involuntary
servitude. The “convict lease” system provided revenue to support prisons and law enforcement while
also offering a cheap labor force and thus greater profits for business owners. Convict leasing helped
propel the South’s economic recovery after the war. Yet critics increasingly drew attention to the abuses
inherent in the system. Some argued that select private business owners should not be permitted to
profit from the convicts’ labor but that prisoners’ labor should be directed to projects that served the
“public” good. Other reformers pointed out that leased prisoners, the vast majority of whom were
African Americans, lived in inhumane conditions, essentially unfree and vulnerable to the whims of
prison officials and private lessees. Among the earliest and most vocal public critics of convict leasing
was George Washington Cable, a white writer and Confederate veteran from New Orleans who
organizations that extended beyond families to include labor unions, civic organizations, and militias. In
Republican-controlled South Carolina in 1876, a massive labor strike spread inland from the Low Country,
as freedpeople, with support from the state militia, walked off their jobs in pursuit of better wages.40
Workers in the sugar-producing region of Louisiana were also particularly active, periodically organizing
across plantations to press for better wages and for opportunities to lease their own lands. Labor conflict
exploded in 1887 when sugar workers organized a great strike, galvanized in part by the Knights of Labor,
a national organization that sought to organize laborers across racial lines.41 In several Louisiana
parishes, black and white sugar workers went on strike at harvest time, demanding better pay. But they
were thwarted by plantation owners and by the state militia, which put down the strike and evicted
hundreds of black families from the land. A militia unit remained in the town of Thibodaux, Louisiana,
after the strike had been broken in the countryside. A tense situation exploded into violence on a late
November day when militia men, believing their authority was threatened, ran rampant through the
town, shooting African Americans at will. As in so many such incidents, no accurate casualty count was
ever made; modern scholars estimate, however, that on that day the state militia killed at least thirty
African American men and women and injured hundreds more.42 As these examples indicate, the
policies of southern state governments significantly shaped labor relations. Where Republicans held
political power, they raised taxes on land and personal property and passed “laborers’ lien” laws that
provided that employers would pay their employees first, before discharging other debt obligations.
When it came to encouraging small farmers to buy land, South Carolina went furthest, creating a state
land commission to purchase land and resell it on favorable terms to small farmers. In the early 1870s,
the experiment was notably successful, with about 14,000 black families and a few whites availing
themselves of this unusual route to landownership.43 Republican legislatures also invested heavily in
railroad development, which helped connect traditional southern port cities with the rural hinterlands,
creating transportation networks that encouraged yeomen farmers living in non-plantation districts to
try their hand at growing staple crops for sale at the market. When Democrats regained control, at
different moments in different states, in many areas they reversed the Republicans’ course. For instance,
Democrats passed laws that favored creditors and employers over laborers, and they reinstituted, in
racially neutral terms, harsh vagrancy laws akin to those passed during the immediate postwar years.
And when rural workers managed to organize for better conditions, Democratic governors readily called
out their militias to break strikes and support the resumption of low-wage plantation agriculture.4
White Southerners also turned to law enforcement officials to control the labor power of African
Americans and to press it into the service of white business owners. During the 1870s and 1880s, prison
officials increasingly leased prisoners to planters and other businessmen at a cost lower than the rate of
pay for free workers. The Thirteenth Amendment had exempted prisoners from its ban on involuntary
servitude. The “convict lease” system provided revenue to support prisons and law enforcement while
also offering a cheap labor force and thus greater profits for business owners. Convict leasing helped
propel the South’s economic recovery after the war. Yet critics increasingly drew attention to the abuses
inherent in the system. Some argued that select private business owners should not be permitted to
profit from the convicts’ labor but that prisoners’ labor should be directed to projects that served the
“public” good. Other reformers pointed out that leased prisoners, the vast majority of whom were
African Americans, lived in inhumane conditions, essentially unfree and vulnerable to the whims of
prison officials and private lessees. Among the earliest and most vocal public critics of convict leasing
was George Washington Cable, a white writer and Confederate veteran from New Orleans who
