The 1860 census counted just over 4 million enslaved African Americans in the South, out of a population of about 31.4 million.[0][1]
There are about 1.9 million people incarcerated in jail or prison in the United States today.[2]
The scale of incarceration in the US today is mind-boggling, but is itself under half the number of people enslaved at the height of the Southern slave economy.
There are about 1.9 million people incarcerated in jail or prison in the United States today.[2]
The scale of incarceration in the US today is mind-boggling, but is itself under half the number of people enslaved at the height of the Southern slave economy.
[0]https://usafacts.org/articles/the-1860-census-counted-4-mill... [1]https://www.census.gov/library/publications/1864/dec/1860a.h... [2]https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2023.html