History is more than what we learn in textbooks—it’s a living, breathing narrative that continues to shape the present. There ...

In the early 1900s, dramatic stories of the abuse and wretched conditions of convict laborers began to be publicized through trials and newspaper accounts. The egregiousness of the violence and ...

While California’s policy of using incarcerated people as cheap labor is particularly egregious ... the late 1920s—only to be replaced by chain gangs. The comparison is particularly apt ...

The prison problem was especially challenging ... instead keeping them to work on public projects in chain gangs.

Each month, local historian Florine Bell provides information about prominent local individuals or places. Although North ...