Knowledge Tree
peonage
Also known as: bonded labor, debt servitude, debt slavery
Facts (16)
Sources
Slavery v. Peonage | Themes | Slavery by Another Name - PBS pbs.org 8 facts
claimThe United States Congress outlawed peonage in 1867.
accountKate Willis, a descendant, provides a description of peonage and how the system functioned.
claimFollowing the Reconstruction era, many Southern Black men were forced into peonage, and the system was not completely eradicated until the 1940s.
claimPeonage, also known as debt slavery or debt servitude, is a system where an employer compels a worker to pay off a debt through labor.
accountSouthern state and county governments participated in abusive peonage by arresting Black men for minor crimes or trumped-up charges, then forcing them to work for local employers who paid their court fines and fees.
accountIn some instances of peonage, workers willingly agreed to work without pay to repay initial advances for pay or transportation costs, which sometimes resulted in the debt being paid off and a fair wage relationship being established.
claimHistorian Pete Daniel provides an analysis of peonage and debt servitude.
claimHistorian Risa Goluboff explains the prosecution of peonage cases that occurred after the Pearl Harbor attacks.
Systemic Debt Slavery - David Korten davidkorten.org Jan 8, 2021 3 facts
claimDebt slavery is an ancient institution that traces back to the beginning of Empire, where the borrower becomes the bonded servant or slave of the lender.
claimDavid Korten proposes that eliminating systemic debt slavery requires raising the wages of working people and increasing taxes on moneylenders.
claimIn the contemporary United States, debt slavery is systemic and less personal compared to historical forms of debt bondage.
Alex Bradshaw about the history of the phenomenon of debt davidgraeber.org Aug 4, 2011 3 facts
perspectiveDavid Graeber argues that as modern economies move back to a system of virtual credit money, the imperial solution of managing debt through social welfare is breaking down, leading to a condition where people in countries like the United States are effectively becoming debt slaves.
accountIn antiquity, the greatest social evil was the practice of people falling so deeply into debt that they would sell their children into slavery, or eventually sell themselves into slavery.
perspectiveDavid Graeber suggests that while modern Americans do not sell themselves to employers but rather rent themselves, an observer from the ancient world would likely view this distinction as a legalism and consider most modern Americans to be debt slaves.
Bonded Labor | Debt Bondage or Peonage - End Slavery Now endslaverynow.org 2 facts
claimBonded labor, also known as debt bondage or peonage, occurs when individuals enter into slavery as security against a loan or inherit a debt from a relative.
claimThe earliest United States legislation outlawed bonded labor under the Spanish name 'peonage,' a practice that surged following the legal emancipation of United States slaves in 1865.