Eric Musgrove
Contributor
While writing about various facets of Suwannee County's history, I long ago realized that some events, systems, and so on, must be explained in more detail to fully understand how our ancestors' lives differed from ours. One of those often-forgotten events was the convict leasing system. Therefore, this week's article will begin to discuss, in some detail, the convict leasing system. This system, for a good part of its history in Florida, was intermingled with the history of Suwannee County. As I often say, we need to learn about the good, the bad and the ugly parts of our history so that we can learn what to do and what not to do.
The end of the War Between the States (now more popularly called the Civil War) found the State of Florida in dire financial straits. The effects of reconstruction exacerbated these effects, so much so that, in 1876, the State's prison system was in shambles. Prisoners were being housed in old buildings that were long overdue for replacement, but funds were not available. The Federal government, in the Compromise of 1876 (also called the Compromise of 1877 because that is when it took effect), ended reconstruction in some parts of the South (including Florida) in exchange for the selection of Rutherford B. Hayes as President. This was even though opponent Samuel Tilden had received approximately 250,000 more popular votes than Hayes and was only one electoral vote shy of outright winning the election.
In 1877, George Franklin Drew became governor of Florida after a tumultuous election (that's another story in and of itself). He was the first post-Reconstruction governor for the State, lived across the Suwannee River at Ellaville, and owned land and businesses in Suwannee County. To balance the budget and help struggling private companies get back on their feet after the end of slavery, he signed a law allowing the State to lease prisoners to private companies on a massive scale. These companies would then be responsible for the housing, feeding and care of the prisoners. It was a win-win situation for the State: not only would they no longer have to care for and house the prisoners (saving some $25,000 per year at the time), but they would lease them out to the highest bidder, bringing revenue into the State's depleted financial coffers. Many states enacted similar laws; Alabama had been the first to lease prisoners all the way back in 1846 and would be the last to repeal the law in 1928.
Unfortunately, the system was ripe for abuse. The results of the convict lease system were that a larger number of African Americans were convicted of crimes and sent into the labor camps, while many whites were able to pay their fines or otherwise escape the penalties. Private companies had no incentive to treat the prisoners well, and in some ways, the convict lease system was a type of slavery that endured beyond the legal end of slavery at the close of the War Between the States.
A book entitled "American Siberia" was written in 1891 by J. C. Powell, who had been captain of one of the convict camps in Florida. I have probably mentioned this book in past articles, and I recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about the convict leasing system in Florida. More specifically, much of the book deals with the convict leasing system in Suwannee County, where for many years half of the State's entire prison population was sent to work in turpentine, timber and railroad construction. Most locals may find it a fascinating, if not sobering, read.
The book begins at the railroad depot in Live Oak, which was a predecessor to the current ACL Freight Depot, housing the Suwannee County Historical Museum, and located in the same general area: "In the fall of 1876, a singular spectacle might have been observed at the little town of Live Oak, in Northern Florida. A train had just arrived, and from one of the cars some thirty odd men disembarked and formed in irregular procession by the road-side. The sun never shone upon a more abject picture of misery and dilapidation. They were gaunt, haggard, famished, wasted with disease, smeared with grime, and clad in filthy tatters. Chains clattered about their trembling limbs, and so inhuman was their aspect that the crowd of curiosity seekers who had assembled around the depot shrank back appalled…"
Join me next week as we find out the fate of these prisoners and continue to discuss the convict lease system.
Eric Musgrove can be reached at [email protected] or (386) 362-0564.
