Convict Lease - Peonage

Peonage

At the same time, and persisting for decades beyond convict leasing, peonage was a problem for poor blacks and whites in the South, who became entrapped by systems of low pay and debts purportedly owed to company or plantation stores. Instances of peonage were found on cotton plantations, as well as in mines and logging. In 1921, John S. Williams and his whipping boss, Clyde Manning, were convicted of murder; Williams, who owned a farm, had ordered the killings of nine to 18 of his black workers (some of whom he killed directly) to avoid being investigated for peonage.