Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II

Blackmon finally returns to Green Cottenham’s story. Nearly every day, Green went to the train station in Columbiana, a frequent gathering spot for young Black men who rode the trains to find work and walked along the tracks to avoid harassment from white people. There were few viable work options for Black men at the time; the ones that existed—like lumber camps—often enslaved the men. Blackmon describes how white men often saw the Black men lounging at train stations as cocky and literate cigarette dudes who refused to conform to white expectations. White men saw these Black men as a plague to be removed from society—specifically through the system of forced convict labor. In the spring of 1908, Green Cottenham fell prey to this system.

Green, along with another man, was seized by local law enforcement at the train station. He was charged with riding the train without a ticket, despite a lack of evidence. Green was sentenced to three months hard labor and told he must pay a fine of $38.40; because he could not pay the fine, extra time was added to his hard labor sentence. Deputy Eddings, the town sheriff, took Green from the Shelby County jail to the Pratt Mines’ newly built Slope No.