The History of Mass Incarceration in the United States

The Roots of American Mass Incarceration

The United States accounts for 5% of the world’s population but is responsible for 25% of the world’s incarcerations.

The 13th Amendment and the First Prison Boom

• The 13th Amendment granted freedom to all slaves, but if they were convicted of a crime, they were still subject to involuntary servitude. This led to the first major prison boom.

The Impact of "Birth of a Nation"

• Black men were labeled as rapacious and animalistic in the film Birth of a Nation:
  • It served as the first major blockbuster for political commentary.
  • It confirmed the narrative white society wanted to tell about the Civil War aftermath, portraying whites as martyrs.
  • Blacks were depicted as animals and a threat to white women.
  • Myths of Black men as rapists were reinforced to satisfy the business elite's need for forced labor.
• The film accurately predicted how race would operate in the US:
  • It was responsible for the rebirth of the KKK.
  • It became a case of "life imitating art."

Terror and Migration

• Thousands of African Americans were murdered under the guise of criminal activity.
• Many African Americans immigrated to inner cities like Chicago, Detroit, Boston, LA, and Oakland as refugees from terror in the South:
  • This created generational trauma and a cycle of poverty.

From Lynchings to Jim Crow

• When public lynchings became socially unacceptable, systemic oppression shifted to segregation and Jim Crow laws, relegating African Americans to a permanent second-class status.

The Civil Rights Movement and Criminality

• The Civil Rights Movement changed the perception of criminality, as it became a noble act to be arrested for standing up for civil and human rights.
• After the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act of 1965 were passed, crime rates began to increase, and lawmakers blamed Black citizens and their new rights.

The 1970s: The Era of Mass Incarceration

• During the Nixon era, the government targeted the Black Power Movement, the Black Panthers, and the Gay Rights movement.
• The War on Drugs functioned as a war on communities of color, treating drug use as a crime issue rather than a health issue.
• The "Southern Strategy" was employed to consolidate political power.
• The wealth gap widened, with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

The Reagan Era and Beyond

• Crack cocaine was introduced to Black neighborhoods during the Reagan era:
  • This policy removed men from families and placed them into prisons for lengthy sentences.
  • Reagan took the problems of inequality and hypersegregation and criminalized them as a "War on Crime."
• The "Super-Predator" myth emerged, leading even some Black communities to support policies that incarcerated their own children.
• The legacy of these policies continues to impact the nation today.