An Untold Story

Documentary produced by tpt National Productions tells little-known story of post emancipation slavery

"Slavery by Another Name" premieres on Twin Cities Public Television on Monday, Feb. 13 at 8 p.m.

Image credit: Library of Congress

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When renowned journalist Bill Moyers sat down to interview fellow journalist and historian Douglas Blackmon about his new non-fiction book, Slavery by Another Name, Moyers had an educational revelation.   

Moyers, a former White House Press Secretary and news commentator, was stunned at the information Blackmon’s book revealed: that slavery post Emancipation Proclamation didn’t end but instead grew worse.  

“In twelve years of public schools I cannot remember one of the teachers I deeply cherished describe slavery for what it was. Nor did they, or anyone I knew, talk about how…thousands of freed black Americans simply were arrested, often on trumped up charges, and coerced into forced labor. And that persisted right up into the 1940s, when I was still a boy,” confessed Moyers in the June 20, 2008 interview. 

Almost four years after the interview, this disgraceful side of American history remains largely hidden, but a new PBS documentary produced in partnership with tpt National Productions hopes to change all of that.  

Also entitled Slavery by Another Name, the documentary, directed by distinguished documentary director Sam Pollard, continues Blackmon’s revealing research into the world of American forced labor.  

The film, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival this month, delves into the South’s continuation of slavery post-Civil War and the North’s inability—and indifference—to stop it. With the help of historical reenactments, historian insight and slaves’ ancestor interviews, the film boldly brings to light a topic that is widely unheard of, but so integral to American history.   

“The awareness that we’re bringing to the audience will be entirely new to them,” says Executive Producer Catherine Allan.   

“Most Americans believe that slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation,” says Allan, who goes on to explain that forced labor conditions were generally more atrocious than that of the slavery era. Blacks were commonly convicted of fabricated crimes, then forced into labor and bought for cheap, their lives worth much less than the investment of slavery.  

The movie, which took three years to research, write and film, includes a classroom component to supplement the movie with educational material. Various public schools in six cities, including those in the Twin Cities, will be using the classroom component starting this February.  

“[The film] was a real challenge, yet thrilling, to make. It made us feel like we’re doing important work,” says Allan.   

+ Slavery by Another Name premieres on Twin Cities Public Television on Monday, Feb. 13 at 8 p.m. For more information visit tpt.org or slaverybyanothername.com.