Chained in Silence: Black Women and Convict Labor in the New South

A groundbreaking history that uncovers the overlooked experiences of African American women caught in Georgia’s convict leasing system, revealing how their forced labor helped build the New South while exposing the enduring legacy of racial and gender oppression.

Beginning in 1868, the state of Georgia leased its rapidly growing prison population to private businesses, creating a lucrative convict leasing system that ensnared not only Black men but also African American women. Forced to labor in factories, farms, and prison camps, these women generated enormous profits for private investors while enduring brutal working conditions and relentless exploitation.

Drawing on a rich collection of primary sources, historian Talitha L. LeFlouria reconstructs the lives of these forgotten women, documenting both the hardships they endured and the vital contributions their labor made to the South’s economic modernization. She argues that the convict lease and chain-gang systems reshaped Black women’s work, creating new skills and roles even as they subjected them to violence, coercion, and systemic abuse.

At the heart of this powerful study are the women themselves—their resilience, resistance, and determination to preserve their humanity in the face of physical and sexual exploitation. Chained in Silence redefines the history of Black women’s labor in the New South, bringing to light stories that had long remained untold.