Genealogist Who Tracks Down Modern-Day Slavery Practices

my dad the whole family was here against a will you didn't either come get you or help somebody kill you what healing would he have on Gyarados and he didn't run restraint please we leave it at home he'd live they wouldn't got it motivate kids read on in from his house kill it hung him up in a tree Kester asked him and hung him up read from his house where he's Cuban nobody could see him I'm pretty sure if it's a fair for the six when this happened most of us think that the end of the civil war in 1865 closed the chapter on slavery in the American South but that's far from the truth over the next 100 years generations of black southerners were forced to labor against their will this new form of slavery happened in the shadows of the first half of the 20th century and even though civil rights movement began advancing racial equality in the south in the 1950s these practices continued secretly making it a difficult history to prove today there's one woman who's dedicated her life to finding this lost history of black identity she's been called the slavery detective of the south [Music] we're currently in Louisiana about to meet Antoinette Pharrell who specializes in finding cases of essentially modern-day slavery we're really deep in the South right now it's super swampy and super rural I was actually born in Boston and moved to Atlanta Georgia like early on in my childhood but I've never been out this part deep into Louisiana I'm very interested in connecting with Antoinette and learning more about her work hello Antoinette not nice to meet you Antoinette was born and raised in Louisiana and even though she lost her leg to cancer a few years ago that hasn't slowed her down from what she sees as a mission of justice tracking down and verifying cases of slavery and abusive labor practices that happened after the Civil War sometimes she gets leads from newspaper clippings old FBI reports or recorded testimonies and sometimes she just gets a phone call I got scared because I've seen how they beat some of the boys Mike I appreciate you not taking this story to the grave with you I know it hurt I know it's very painful and the state of Florida can't pay you all enough but I'll be in touch with you shortly a few of Antoinette's investigations have been used in court cases for reparations though sometimes the end goal is simply to give people knowledge of their family roots which for a lot of black southerners is something that slavery erased let me first tell you how I got started with this researching my own family history my family was held as slaves well in 1863 my family was emancipated and my family did become sharecroppers Robert or L became a sharecropper under the system of sharecropping the planter and the newly free former slaves came into our agreement I will furnish you with the seeds with the land a place to stay in return you would give me portion to crops well not everyone did thing although sharecropping was technically legal the practice was widely abused by white landowners who used debts to keep african-americans tied to the land that they once worked as slaves sharecroppers didn't pay rent but they didn't own any property and today historians agree sharecropping was just slavery by a different name so many former enslaved Africans had nothing they had no choice the end of you you owe me no matter how hard you work you were told sorry in those cases really directly to your cases today right after slavery these are like 1921 1930 1940s to 50s and some of them to the sixties Antoinette's very first case was may Louise Miller a woman who was held as a slave with her entire family in Mississippi until 1961 film a passed away in 2014 Antoinette took us to see one of her brothers Arthur Miller Mae and author being two of the older sisters and brothers they remember a lot it took a long time before author really open up and talk we leave them I don't know what you call it but something like a plantation to me it belonged to several different white people's they always with family I guess and you couldn't leave and if you didn't need to either come get you all Oh help somebody kill you were dealing with it that's what happened they did my mama bear well they drew it's your mother they just had my mother you know they write me you know just do what they want to do well you know I just wasn't big enough to do that if I wouldn't be and I don't know probably wouldn't meet you and this was in the 1950s or 40s there was only through the phonies in the fifties all through the fifties you see in four to the sixties so what would the repercussions be if you tried leave or if you try to refuse what they wanted back in them days it was kind of like you had to do what the white man see it or I get care I did it uncle he made him dig the grave but he killed him kill him bury me hungry Gyarados and they kill him he didn't run restraint please we leave it at home he left and he would coming back he wouldn't got him motivated to read on it from his house killed it hung him up in a tree they hung him they killed him first cast arrest him and hung him up read from his house Cuba knew better can see him were you aware that this is 1940s 1950s that saying Arthur this is this breaks my heart to hear this story growing up with each were you fully aware this is in the 40s and 50s you know the civil rights movement is just about to begin were you aware of what was going on in the rest of the country at that time for black people pursuing freedom no you know and you weren't aware at all that this was there was any pursuit for freedom in the 40s and 50s for us no not really not really cold I think maybe like in 65 6 of 16 he was doing that marching you know that's when I really found out the people scared to talk about its people right now y'all go to talk to you talk with y'all about did you miss kids do it they got that fear in them all how could something like this happen a lot of these places that was in very isolated rural areas it was easy I mean you had the opportunity to ride through some of these areas and you saw for miles and miles there's absolutely nothing you think like how can somebody not just escape these types of conditions and once you actually are out here you see there is nothing but cotton fields and crops and long strips of road where where can you fathom ligo it's insane to see how you can be trapped on this land on so many different levels whether it be economically physically and even mentally we're calling on the world in terms of righteousness reparations it's when it's worked for Arthur's family got the attention of a lawyer in 2001 and they became part of a class-action lawsuit for reparations but ultimately the Supreme Court refused to hear the case in the pursuit for reparations has since been dropped are you doing ma'am my name is Antoinette Corral and I'm a historian hey how y'all doing I got a question can I ask you something right quick the lady in the next block told me there used to be a store where people used to share crop or work on somebody land do you buddy know that story is that how you do a lot of your work just going out and talking to the community hey how you doing a kilo come with me yeah get you have a pick cotton oh yeah one of the Antoinette's new cases took us to the ball ground plantation to meet a man named Donald Jeffrey Donald comes from five generations of sharecroppers who worked the same land under the simul family Donald still lives here along with the last descendant of the simile a man named Carsten today Donald works full time on another farm but still lives rent-free on this plantation and does odd jobs for Carsten so their living situation is unconventional to say the least why is Donald so nervous like we're pretty inconspicuous right now I don't think he wants the boss man to see us here hey Donald Donald it's nice to meet you my mama's dead is when they come along and they turn they will share problems what kind of work was done on his plantation everything food with cow horses and farming what kind of word is your mother doing the plantation she mostly didn't made nor did cooking she told me at 14 years old she started chopping cotton and she will leave out the cotton field at a corridor 20 minutes at 11 and cook down on the heavy rate at Toyo why did you not leave the plantation well Devon was home to me you know you know I love it he was a beautiful place and I'd you know just didn't leave you know your response for your light bill but you don't pay no water bill or no rent so I mean that's how it works out so what is your relationship to this plantation born and raised here and caution eyes he's almost like a brother to me I mean we have a a real close relationship bond so there's a brotherhood between you and Carson yeah like family yeah well we like family sure like brother I can go right there that's been a nightmare how all the people that worked on this plantation he refused to put them off he will let them stay here and that's how you end up stands yeah it's me do I feel like he's holding back some things yes I do but he lives here and he have to stay here when I'm gone and I don't want to put anybody's life in jeopardy you know because this can't happen I mean you know if you're talking about things that people don't want to be told there's always someone that don't want you to talk about something that night I spoke with Carsten about his family's history on the plantation in their Carson hey they're going on how's it going that Akhil thanks for letting us you know showing us around yeah man great the only thing to eat or anything yummy beer fine empty all that's fine is fine if we could just do a little tour that'd be amazing and just talk a little bit about the history of all ground plantation this is my wife Natalie nice to meet you and then let me say this Emeril family goes up goes a long way out here right yes my family bought this place in 1899 so if I must yes I'm the fifth generation what is your relationship with Donald I don't even remember meeting him honest to god we were childhood friends no joke I promise to God are you related to this man right here yeah that is my great-great-great grandfather and what time period is this oh that would probably be in the thirties this this man right here was related to Donald correct that's Eli what kind of work was he doing at that time was he just like a general helper for your great grandfather yes just anything he'd just do anything and if anybody fool with him they had a hell to pay that's he's still just like nobody fold on say that they know how can you talk a little bit about the history of the land as well back then it was very little open land okay cuz ever every home had their own little allotment mmm-hmm okay like say that you were living on my farm okay rent-free okay seriously honest to god I mean who wouldn't do that mm-hmm I mean everybody else was Chardon they're people right so they just worked the crops and didn't have to pay rent on this land never ever that was think as Donald was explaining a little bit about his his history his experience total oh yeah and you don't have to eat it that either I see that there's a Confederate dollars here did your family have a lot of ties to the Confederate Army not really just had the currency what misconceptions are there do you feel about the Confederate Army here it is right you can read the southern nation the rise of the old south this he says the south was right it was written by - Kent - Kennedy brothers this is about the south being right during the Civil War I'm not trying to push the book but it's proven I mean you can talk to anyone [Music] we're in Vicksburg Mississippi right now at the County Courthouse where we're gonna be looking at documents of ball ground plantation where we met Donald and Carson yesterday Antoinette wanted to see if she could find any information on Donald's family before they were sharecroppers for the sim rules since most African Americans have no information about their lineage from this time it can be an important first step in grasping that part of our identity we started with his last name Jeffrey so Antoinette is tracing the lineage of Donald who has the last name Jeffrey's because his former slave masters had the name Jeffrey just like my name is Gibbons it's formerly the slave holder that owned my my family yeah Oh Jeffrey's this is the personal property owned so we want to hope that we find someone names in here okay I need you to pull file 1101 okay come on baby you gotta be somebody talk to me finding records like this is rare what do you think about how black families were systematically separated sold off and then trafficked across state lines even finding one person related to Donald would be a long shot I found I'm not I can't say that this is Donald's family but there was one Negro woman and children for $850 look at it for yourself oh we have some names John 660 dollars George $650 why is this important to me because when I'm doing damos genealogy I will look for these names and see if his genealogy can connect me to learn these people they had five moos a plow sofa in order to find anyone's family who was held as slaves they have to look into the property inventory so this can be very painful for people of African descent to do this looking at the expression on your face right now you know yes is this the first time you have seen the document like this yeah you know you understand the realities of our history but to see it on a receipt listed you know from 1840s I've never seen before yeah yeah now that we had the names antoinette called another genealogist to run them through the National Archives Jeffrey we went through marriage licenses and found another relation named bel Edwards okay Bernice I'm gonna take a picture of something and send it to you right quick we're trying to give Donald some of his history as a gift there you go I just sent you something so Antoinette you tell us what what you just found I just found Edward Griffin and Bill Edwards was married in 1877 so this is Donna's ancestors she might have found something hold up hello Bernice what did you find oh my god I'm in tears I mean I'm really actually in tears Antoinette was able to identify an entirely new branch of Donald's family she found that his ancestors could be traced back to Virginia one of the first and largest slave ports in America it's now up to Donald to determine what he wants to do with this knowledge it's hard to know how to accept any of our history in America but at the very least even learning who our ancestors from this time were feels like an act of justice how do you feel about the work you know Antoinette's visiting different places I think it's nice no it's good you know what you know Yahoo is good what y'all doing that's real good it's good for somebody to know how people have been treated after the Civil War we were as african-americans promised 40 acres and a mule to begin to have our own lives as Americans but we weren't able to get it but able to you you think that if we were given reparations that we may be able to fix what has been wrong it may not really fix it but he would hear you know what I'm saying it was I don't know you know it's just something that's kind unfixable you can kind of admit it back together a little bit but when complete fiction certain things killing and it'll make him dig his grave you know this stuff like that you know you do just can't fix that thereby gave me immunity [Music] that's an entire piece of history that will be lost we need to do as much recording with people who would talk about a lot of people went through it but they're afraid to talk about it it's bittersweet it's a bittersweet the more you've learned the more I dig the more I find sometimes things a little hard to digest if I just do it because it needs to be done [Music]

Channel: VICE

Views: 3,454,182

Keywords: documentary, documentaries, docs, interview, culture, lifestyle, world, exclusive, independent, underground, videos, journalism, vice guide, vice.com, vice, vice magazine, vice mag, vice videos, slavery, civil war, labor, daily vice, modern day slavery, sharecropping, Antoinette Harrell, Louisiana, slavery detective, plantations, modern slavery, work, america, usa, united states of america, juneteenth, the south, abolishment of slavery

Id: 6OXbJHsKB3I

Length: 21min 41sec (1301 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 27 2018