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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, The convict leasing system that flourished in Texas |
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in the late 19th and early 20th centuries began soon after the |
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passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which ended slavery or |
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indentured servitude in the United States except as a punishment |
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for a crime; and |
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WHEREAS, Faced with housing and feeding an exploding number |
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of new prisoners due to laws that were used to unjustly incarcerate |
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free blacks after the Civil War, the State of Texas began leasing |
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state prisoners to private businesses in 1867; the state took a |
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negligent role in ensuring that the prisoners were treated |
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appropriately, and working conditions at the sugar cane |
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plantations, stone quarries, iron foundries, and other dangerous |
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places were inhumane; and |
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WHEREAS, The men and women who were victims of the state's |
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convict leasing system suffered grievously, as shown in the remains |
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of 95 African Americans that were discovered in 2018 on the grounds |
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of the former Imperial Sugar Company State Prison Farm in Sugar |
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Land; the remains indicate that amputations, bone breaks, extreme |
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dehydration, mosquito-borne epidemics, frequent beatings, and a |
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lack of medical care were common; and |
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WHEREAS, For more than 30 years, the state's convict leasing |
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system, an offshoot of slavery, provided revenue to the State of |
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Texas and allowed the state to largely avoid the cost of housing and |
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feeding state prisoners; for the businesses that employed the |
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prisoners, the convict leasing system was also profitable, allowing |
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the businesses to hire labor at a fraction of the appropriate cost; |
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and |
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WHEREAS, By the time the Texas Legislature passed S.B. 10, |
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Acts of the 31st Legislature, 4th Called Session, 1910, to end |
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convict leasing, the Capitol, officially completed in 1888, had |
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already been built with convict labor; records show that the red |
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granite and limestone used to construct the building were quarried |
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by state prisoners and that all of the iron works, including the |
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dome, columns, gates, and interior decorative features, were |
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fabricated by state prisoners; and |
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WHEREAS, It is in the public's interest to create a plaque to |
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inform visitors to the Capitol that the Capitol was built with |
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convict labor and to show that the men and women who were victims of |
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the state's convict leasing system played an important role in the |
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history and economic development of Texas; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby direct the State Preservation Board to initiate steps to |
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provide for the replacement of the Children of the Confederacy |
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plaque with a plaque to honor victims of the state's convict leasing |
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system; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward an |
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official copy of this resolution to the executive director of the |
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State Preservation Board. |