Tour the States: Alabama
Welcome to the first post in my Tour the States series. Today I begin with the state of Alabama and their records related to the shameful practice of leasing out convict labor to various industries, such as coal mines, for more than 50 years, which author Douglas A. Blackmon called, “slavery by another name.”
In my search for records related to the convict leasing system, I located a few online databases as well as several collections from the Alabama Department of Archives and History, the most interesting one to me being Convict lessee payment ledgers, 1889-1921. This collection contains five volumes that include information such as the inmate names and the amount earned. Unfortunately, due to time restraints, I was unable to gain access to the payment ledgers, so I cannot provide an example of what they look like. However, the following three online databases do provide a glimpse into this blight on Alabama’s history.
The Birmingham Public Library database, Alabama Coal Mine Fatalities, 1898-1938 includes information related to the deaths of convicts and traditional employees. This database is helpful when searching for convicts’ deaths since you can search by mine location, occupation, and cause of death. It also includes a more specific cause of death compared to Ancestry’s Alabama, U.S., Death Record of State Convicts, 1843-1951. This database is valuable since it does provide images of the actual ledger books. By looking at these ledgers you can begin to see patterns related to the cause and location of death.
For example, John Scurley, was a black prisoner who died while being forced to work in the Banner mine, the very same mine that a year earlier was the scene of the worst mining disaster in Alabama’s history. According to the Alabama Coal Mine Fatalities, 1898-1938 database John’s cause of death was listed as “tram car,” while the Alabama, U.S., Death Record of State Convicts, 1843-1951, states that he was killed in a mine. In the last database Alabama, U.S., Convict Records, 1886-1952, We can see that John had been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life on 17 August 1911, just 363 days before he died while being forced to work in the Banner Mine for the economic benefit of the state of Alabama.
Between these three databases, a researcher can begin to infer whether an individual worked as a convict lessee. However, to verify this information, a researcher would need to do additional research including accessing the Convict Lessee Payment Ledgers, mentioned above. My future plan is to determine if John is included in these ledgers and if so, obtain copies of his records. When I do, I will update this post to include images of them.
For more information on the convict lease system, I suggest Douglas A. Blackmon’s book as well as the Alabama Department of Archives and History, and the Encyclopedia of Alabama History.
