Black Prisoners and Their World : Alabama, 1865-1900 (Paperback)

~ (Author) "This book traces the history of black prisoners in Alabama from the end of the Civil War to the turn of the twentieth century..." (more)
Key Phrases: prison mining, many black prisoners, prison miners, Pratt City, Hale County, African Americans (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mary Ellen Curtin gives voice to the dispossessed without romanticization, and much of the book is simply brilliant." -- 'Alex Lichtenstein, Florida International University'

Review

"As a study of African-American convict life in the New South, Mary Ellen Curtin's work has no equals. She gives voice to the dispossessed without romanticization, and much of the book is simply brilliant." -- Alex Lichtenstein, Florida International University

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Product Details

• Paperback: 261 pages
• Publisher: University of Virginia Press (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813919843
• ISBN-13: 978-0813919843
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #380,228 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars Superb, August 24, 2009

By	Maxtone Witherball - See all my reviews

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Mary Ellen Curtin's Black Prisoners and Their World, Alabama, 1865-1900 delivers precisely the history its title promises. And more: If you fear a too-narrow focus, you needn't be overly concerned. Yes, the book in the main concentrates on post-emancipation, pre-fin-de-siècle Alabama, but it also gives the reader a substantial overview of the period 1901-1928 (1928 being the year Alabama finally took its state and county prisoners out of the coal mines/death camps).

If you are at all interested in the sacrifices (in every sense of the word) of black Americans after the Civil War--and especially those of black American prisoners--I unreservedly recommend this book to you. It's everything a work of history should be: Comprehensive within its stated purview; highly erudite; deeply insightful; scrupulously fair; mindful of the limits of the available evidence; and perhaps most important, well written and readily digested. For those who, like me, come to it because they read Douglas Blackmon's Slavery by Another Name--which is essential reading in its own right--it's eye-opening as well.

(I should not fail to note also that the epilogue, which discusses the state of the prison industrial complex as of 2000, is hugely informative--not to mention, damningly critical.)