Black(#ADOS) communities were shut out of entrepreneurial investments in the seafood industry during #Reconstruction. “Bohemian”, or Romanian/Yugoslavian immigrants, migrated to Biloxi, MS from Baltimore, MD. to offset The Natl. Child Labor Comm’s ruling. userpages.umbc.edu/~arubin/HIST40…
The National Child Labor Committee was formed in 1904 to combat the growing number of children who were working in what would be considered shocking and appalling conditions today; especially in Mississippi’s seafood industry.
“In the Child Labor Bulletin for 1912 and 1913, Hine stressed the importance of bringing the abuses and mistreatment of child labor practices to an end.”
“With the photographs as his evidence, Hine explained, "I wish to present to you a phase of child labor, serious in the extreme, and hope a little careful consideration will give you an accurate, sympathetic view of the situation."
Prior to the Immigration Act of 1864 and the formation of the Child Labor Committee in 1904, America heavily relied on forced labor from underaged workers throughout the Black(#ADOS) communities in Mississippi’s seafood industry.
“the seafood industry was at the core of Biloxi's economic development and many claim that the seafood industry built Biloxi." The Dunbar, Lopez, and Dukate Company became one of the premiere shrimping canneries in Biloxi.”
“Dukate and many other owners began transporting migrants from Baltimore and placing them in temporary housing built specifically around the factories that the laborers were working in.”
“The owners had incredible control over the seafood industry and everything that was affected by it.
“It was solely up to the owners to decide what laborers they could exploit the most.”
“The cannery owners would not have gone so far as to transport certain groups of immigrants from Baltimore and set them up in factory houses if they did not think that they would make the most profit from them.”
“For example, surely Biloxi had a large black population that was able to work, but despite the easily accessible black work force the benefit of shipping workers in was great enough to ignore it.”
According to management, “the chief advantage of hiring blacks was that it saved on the cost of transportation. The chief advantage of the whites was, ‘the whites work harder, longer hours, are more easily driven, and use the children much more.”
“The aim of the NCLC was, "to establish a fourteen year minimum age for factory work, treat canneries as factories, and create a program of factory inspection and enforcement.”
The key to child labor and understanding the success of exploitating it was to realize that everyone was involved.
“Whether it was the children hiding from inspectors, the owners looking the other way, the inspectors being paid off, the parent's willingness and necessity in keeping their kids working all played a vital role in perpetuating the child labor machine.”
Ironically, I got my first job at Suarez Seafood and Gollott’s Seafood Factory when I was 14 years old. East Biloxi has a predominantly black community that has historically contributed to Biloxi’s seafood industry. The Gulf of Mexico is a vital resource.
“Phoenix and Point a la Hache sit in Plaquemines Parish (as Louisiana counties are called), the state's southernmost jurisdiction, a marshy terrain carved out of where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico.”
“For much of the 19th Century, the parish's life was dominated by African-Americans — slaves, as well as freed descendants of Africans, Native Americans, and French and Spanish settlers.”
“Many of those descendants were granted land carved from the plantations that lined the river. They took to the water: fish, shrimp, oysters and crabs, all of which formed the base of the area's diet.”#ADOS
“By the 1970s, many of the blacks had moved from sharecropping potatoes and okra to buying their own boats. They became a force in the local seafood industry.” #ADOS#Reparations
“black oystermen, fishermen and shrimpers have been excluded from BP's distribution of more than $84 million in compensatory checks.” In my opinion, the @bp_plc oil spill was one of the worst displays of environmental racism in America’s history.
My commentary highlights American capitalism and how immigration policies have been used to exclude Africans who were enslaved in the United States(#ADOS). Exploitative labor policies have always been the cure for the insatiable demands of the dominant white society. ❤️🙏🏾✊🏾
@60Minutes@MSFreePress “U.S. Sen. Doug Jones and others have done nothing to mitigate this epidemic that has gone unnoticed among leftists who are calling for a Green “New Deal.” Meanwhile, 32% of residents in Lowndes County, Ala., live in abject poverty.”
@60Minutes@MSFreePress “A recent survey by the National School of Tropical Medicine found that 34% of these residents tested positive for Necator americanus (hookworm). Hookworm responds to deforestation, resulting in flooding, which then creates the ideal environment for hookworms to thrive”
🚨Breaking News🚨 Here is my latest @MSFreePress Voices piece! There is a lack of transparency in Mississippi’s police departments that no one is talking about. Shout out to @DonnerKay, @kbrenemen and @AziaCimone for giving me the opportunity! @MississippiAdos
As Rankin County deputies struggled with Damien Cameron in his grandmother’s home, he was heard screaming “I can’t breathe” in a back room before his grandmother found him unresponsive in her front yard.
The Cameron family sought clarity from law-enforcement officials to no avail. The Mississippi Department of Public Safety said that it will not comment on an ongoing investigation and that it will “turn over all investigative findings to the district attorney for review.”
This is a stain on the @CityofGulfport. Gulfport Police Chief Chris Ryle has shown a pattern of citing “investigative material” when asked to provide public records requests regarding police involved shootings. I have obtained the General Orders via MBI.
I cited several violations of police policy by law enforcement agencies regarding de-escalation procedures and deadly use of force. The lack of transparency surrounding the shooting of 3 month old #LaMelloParker raises grave concerns for lawmakers community leaders.
Can we all have a serious bipartisan conversation around the history of immigration in America and it’s impact on #ADOS? The Immigration Act of 1864 was one of Lincoln’s most signature pieces of legislation prior to the #EmacipationProclomation of 1865.
“This law legalized and bureaucratized labor recruitment practices similar to indentured servitude to encourage immigration to the United States and economic development.”
“Although many poor Europeans had arrived as indentured servants during the colonial period, the practice had ended in the 1820s.”Congress repealed this law in 1868 after protests by labor organizations.
Shout out to @AziaCimone@TorshetaJ
Deanna Tisdale-Johnson @DonnerKay@kimberlydgriffi, and so many more who helped to contribute to this series! These testimonies make the case for the need for a comprehensive federal #reparations claim that is specific to #ADOS communities.
#MississippiRaceViolence is still prevalent in rural Black(#ADOS) communities in Noxubee County. @DonnerKay exposes the KKK’s involvement in the terrorism of Black(#ADOS) educators during Jim Crow in MS and the impact it had on their community today.
On July 10, 1887, the grand jury of Hinds County, MS released a report revealing the horrific conditions state prisoners endured under convict leasing-a system that permitted private companies to lease prisoners from the state to labor for no pay. #ADOSAF calendar.eji.org/racial-injusti…
The grand jury observed that many prisoners who had been leased were emaciated and malnourished because the leasing companies did not provide adequate food.
Investigators also noted that many prisoners exhibited scars and blisters indicating they had been severely beaten, and showed signs of health conditions like tuberculosis and frostbite.