I just caught an awesome presentation on C-Span by Douglas Blackmon about his book Slavery by Another Name and it is a mind-blowing account of the systematic RE-enslavement of African-Americans in the South after the Civil War, and which continued in one form or another right up until the beginning of World War II.
I'm gonna buy it tonight
It cannot be said often enough - the USA owes everything to Black Americans who have built this country while being treated like shit before AND after the Civil War, continuing right up until the present time.