Its purpose was to free African American slaves and diminish the rights of criminals, giving the southern governments and excuse to reestablish slavery, without calling it slavery, by portraying and convicting African Americans as “criminals.” This was done by incarcerating freed African Americans for minor crimes and using them to rebuild the South’s economy after the devastating Civil War. Although this is unknown by many, this still happens in current times. People who are incarcerated are used as free labor to benefit larger companies, in conditions similar to sweatshops. The African American communities are specifically targeted by the justice system, which has started to become a private business that strives to keep more people in jails for a longer period of time in order to make profit, regardless of the severeness of the