Slavery, Involuntary Servitude & Peonage with Antoinette Harrell




Research at the National Archives&Beyond show

Summary: Join author, lecturer, television and radio host Antoinette Harrell for a discussion of her new book The Department of Justice -Slavery,  Involuntary Servitude and Peonage. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution outlaws slavery and certain forms of involuntary servitude. The Department of Justice files contain complaints made by persons (victims) who were being held against their will or forced to work off debts through threats and intimidation by employers or others. Most of the victims were negroes who were beaten to return to former employers to work off their debts. These files contain correspondences, memorandums, telegrams, newspapers clippings, transcripts or testimonies, FBI reports of investigation and indictments. Antoinette Harrell, a renowned genealogist whose genealogical research has been featured on Nightline News, People Magazine and many other national and international public media. Harrell is the host and producer of Nurturing Our Roots Television and Nurturing Our Roots Blog Talk Radio. She was appointed Honorary Attorney General in the State of Louisiana in 2003 for her studies in genealogy. She is also one of the recipients of the ASLAH Award for her outstanding services of as a humanitarian activist and film maker. She has also been featured in “Chronicle On Civil Rights” & Civil Rights History from the Ground Up: Local Struggles a National Movement.