| 1 | 1 | | 86R9739 CLE-D |
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| 2 | 2 | | By: Reynolds H.C.R. No. 55 |
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| 3 | 3 | | |
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| 4 | 4 | | |
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| 5 | 5 | | CONCURRENT RESOLUTION |
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| 6 | 6 | | WHEREAS, The convict leasing system that flourished in Texas |
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| 7 | 7 | | in the late 19th and early 20th centuries began soon after the |
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| 8 | 8 | | passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which ended slavery or |
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| 9 | 9 | | indentured servitude in the United States except as a punishment |
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| 10 | 10 | | for a crime; and |
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| 11 | 11 | | WHEREAS, Faced with housing and feeding an exploding number |
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| 12 | 12 | | of new prisoners due to laws that were used to unjustly incarcerate |
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| 13 | 13 | | free blacks after the Civil War, the State of Texas began leasing |
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| 14 | 14 | | state prisoners to private businesses in 1867; the state took a |
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| 15 | 15 | | negligent role in ensuring that the prisoners were treated |
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| 16 | 16 | | appropriately, and working conditions at the sugar cane |
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| 17 | 17 | | plantations, stone quarries, iron foundries, and other dangerous |
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| 18 | 18 | | places were inhumane; and |
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| 19 | 19 | | WHEREAS, The men and women who were victims of the state's |
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| 20 | 20 | | convict leasing system suffered grievously, as shown in the remains |
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| 21 | 21 | | of 95 African Americans that were discovered in 2018 on the grounds |
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| 22 | 22 | | of the former Imperial Sugar Company State Prison Farm in Sugar |
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| 23 | 23 | | Land; the remains indicate that amputations, bone breaks, extreme |
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| 24 | 24 | | dehydration, mosquito-borne epidemics, frequent beatings, and a |
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| 25 | 25 | | lack of medical care were common; and |
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| 26 | 26 | | WHEREAS, For more than 30 years, the state's convict leasing |
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| 27 | 27 | | system, an offshoot of slavery, provided revenue to the State of |
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| 28 | 28 | | Texas and allowed the state to largely avoid the cost of housing and |
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| 29 | 29 | | feeding state prisoners; for the businesses that employed the |
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| 30 | 30 | | prisoners, the convict leasing system was also profitable, allowing |
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| 31 | 31 | | the businesses to hire labor at a fraction of the appropriate cost; |
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| 32 | 32 | | and |
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| 33 | 33 | | WHEREAS, By the time the Texas Legislature passed S.B. 10, |
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| 34 | 34 | | Acts of the 31st Legislature, 4th Called Session, 1910, to end |
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| 35 | 35 | | convict leasing, the Capitol, officially completed in 1888, had |
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| 36 | 36 | | already been built with convict labor; records show that the red |
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| 37 | 37 | | granite and limestone used to construct the building were quarried |
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| 38 | 38 | | by state prisoners and that all of the iron works, including the |
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| 39 | 39 | | dome, columns, gates, and interior decorative features, were |
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| 40 | 40 | | fabricated by state prisoners; and |
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| 41 | 41 | | WHEREAS, It is in the public's interest to create a plaque to |
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| 42 | 42 | | inform visitors to the Capitol that the Capitol was built with |
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| 43 | 43 | | convict labor and to show that the men and women who were victims of |
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| 44 | 44 | | the state's convict leasing system played an important role in the |
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| 45 | 45 | | history and economic development of Texas; now, therefore, be it |
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| 46 | 46 | | RESOLVED, That the 86th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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| 47 | 47 | | hereby direct the State Preservation Board to initiate steps to |
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| 48 | 48 | | provide for the replacement of the Children of the Confederacy |
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| 49 | 49 | | plaque with a plaque to honor victims of the state's convict leasing |
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| 50 | 50 | | system; and, be it further |
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| 51 | 51 | | RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward an |
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| 52 | 52 | | official copy of this resolution to the executive director of the |
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| 53 | 53 | | State Preservation Board. |
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