1. Do Now Look at the chart about inmates in US prisons.
What do you see about the differences between the US Population and that of the incarcerated population?
What are your initial reactions to these graphs?

2. Mass Incarceration of African Americans
Roots of the Issue

3. Learning Objective: Students will analyze the historic events that led to mass incarceration becoming a modern civil rights issues. Content Standard 11.10

4. 13th Amendment (1865)
"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Does this amendment ban all forms of slavery?

5. 13th Amendment First time “slavery” is mentioned in the Constitution
Ensures the ending of institutional slavery
Passing of the 13th amendment outrages many whites
Nation was built using free labor (slavery)
Many hope that a new form of slavery will emerge
Loophole in 13th Amendment
Allows slavery as punishment for crime
Many freedmen gain work on plantations they were once enslaved to - sharecropping

6. Convict Leasing
Began before the Civil War, but spread mostly in the South during Reconstruction (1870s)
Prisons/states get paid to lease out prisoners for work
Replacement for end of free labor
Created an incentive to arrest more African Americans and keep prisons full

7. Jim Crow and Increased Incarceration Rates
Jim Crow laws are created in southern states
Shortly after, they are adopted throughout the nation (1890’s)
People are arrested for violating Jim Crow laws
Such as sitting in the wrong section of a public facility
Some states even create curfew for African Americans
Jim Crow laws give legal reason to disproportionately arrest African Americans

8. Jim Crow (cont.)
Many state constitutions ratified to ban convicted felons from voting while in prison (early 1900’s)
Effort to continue to disenfranchise voters
Some states also block parolees from voting
Also blocks felons from participating in juries while imprisoned
Blocks ability to have fair trial by peers
Many states block African Americans in general from being able to participate on juries

9. Early Attempts to Back Civil Disobedience
Form of non-violent/political protest
Refuse to follow certain laws or to pay taxes/fines
Tactic of protesting Jim Crow laws was to allow police to arrest protesters
Attempt to fill jails beyond capacity– most notably during Sit-In movement
BUT, large number of people lose ability to vote or participate in jury while in jail

10. Today’s Activity Watching a section of the documentary:
13th directed by Ava DuVernay
By the end of today’s section of the movie, you should be able to answer at least questions #1- 4
Feel free to take notes during the film to add to your notes from the Power Point
1 hour 15 minutes – 1 hour 35 minutes (20 minutes)