Jeff Forret, Lamar University history professor and Distinguished Faculty Research Fellow, is making headlines
regarding his new book, “Williams’ Gang: A Notorious Slave Trader and His Cargo of Black Convicts.”
In November, Forret published the article, “The History of Modern Mass Incarceration of African Americans Goes Deeper Than You May Think,” in TIME Magazine. The article follows the life of one young enslaved woman, Charlotte, who spent 17 years in confinement. Not only did she become one of the longest-serving felons, black or white, in antebellum U.S. prison history, but Forret suggests her imprisonment ushered in an era of mass African American incarceration that is ongoing today.
Forret also published a piece in November for the White House Historical Association’s “Slavery in the President’s Neighborhood” series, titled “Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Washington’s Most Notorious Slave Pen.” It examines Washington, D.C., slave trader William H. Williams’ private slave jail known as the Yellow House, visible to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The prison inspired some onlookers in the District to become abolitionist politicians, but it also incarcerated enslaved people available for purchase by U.S. presidents such as Louisiana slave owner Zachary Taylor.
In early January, independent journalist and biographer Diamond Michael Scott published an interview, “Professor Jeff and His Undying Passion for the History of Slavery, The South, and Race Relations,” with Forret on www.medium.com discussing the author’s personal pursuits of truth in history and the major themes of the book, now available from Cambridge University Press.
Get your copy.
regarding his new book, “Williams’ Gang: A Notorious Slave Trader and His Cargo of Black Convicts.” In November, Forret published the article, “The History of Modern Mass Incarceration of African Americans Goes Deeper Than You May Think,” in TIME Magazine. The article follows the life of one young enslaved woman, Charlotte, who spent 17 years in confinement. Not only did she become one of the longest-serving felons, black or white, in antebellum U.S. prison history, but Forret suggests her imprisonment ushered in an era of mass African American incarceration that is ongoing today.
Forret also published a piece in November for the White House Historical Association’s “Slavery in the President’s Neighborhood” series, titled “Presidents, Vice Presidents, and Washington’s Most Notorious Slave Pen.” It examines Washington, D.C., slave trader William H. Williams’ private slave jail known as the Yellow House, visible to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The prison inspired some onlookers in the District to become abolitionist politicians, but it also incarcerated enslaved people available for purchase by U.S. presidents such as Louisiana slave owner Zachary Taylor.
In early January, independent journalist and biographer Diamond Michael Scott published an interview, “Professor Jeff and His Undying Passion for the History of Slavery, The South, and Race Relations,” with Forret on www.medium.com discussing the author’s personal pursuits of truth in history and the major themes of the book, now available from Cambridge University Press.
Get your copy.
