Unearthing the truth of Convict Leasing, known as slavery by another name
A blue storage pod in the broiling sun of south Texas is now the resting place of the remains of 95 convict laborers who died in the sugar plantations of the ironically named Sugar Land, Texas. Unearthed were they lay for more than a century in a quiet field to make way for a school, the violation of their remains is evidence of America’s continuing and collective whitewashing and ignorance of its history—a history that through the violation of the burial sites of the African American dead continues to today and tomorrow.
The discovery of the remains of 95 black inmates at the Imperial Prison Farm in Sugar Land has drawn national attention to the history of convict leasing in Texas and the Greater Houston Area. Our speakers will examine this history and the current struggle to honor and memorialize the lives and deaths of these 94 men and 1 woman. (Event photo: Julia Zhogina Photography)
Sponsor Hutchins Center for African and African American Research
Partners
Press
- Watch the Talk (livestreamed)
- Unearthing Truth: Sugar Land’s Past and Future, National Trust for Historic Preservation Leadership Forum
Independent Research
- Unearthing Truth: The Future of Sugar Land, Texas Depends on Its Bitter Past
- Case Study: Whose History, Whose Place?: Underlying Power Networks (presentation/text)