Imprisoned African American workers made important contributions to the construction of “New South” industries during the Gilded Age. Through an analysis of the sources in this unit, you will gain a better understanding of how convict labor was used during the second industrial revolution. These documents shed light on important historical questions: How did the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allow for involuntary servitude to be reestablished through the penal system? How was prison labor used to repair the war-torn economies of the post–Civil War South? How did southern industrialists profit from the use of convict labor? What impact did forced labor have on male, female, and juvenile offenders? By examining the documents in this unit, you will develop critical analytical skills and the ability to interpret historical evidence from a variety of sources: textual, audio, and visual. At the conclusion of this unit, you should be able to answer the following central question: What role did convict labor play in the building of modern America during the second industrial revolution?