"Worse than Slavery"

1996 book by David M. Oshinsky "Worse than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice is a 1996 book by David M. Oshinsky, published by The Free Press. It is about Mississippi State Penitentiary in Sunflower County, Mississippi. Sourcing The sourcing includes documents from the prison and from plantations, interviews, and some works described by James Goodman of The New Leader as "long forgotten" and "invaluable".Goodman James "'Worse Than Slavery': Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice" By David M. Oshinsky (Book Review) The New Leader New York City 1996 79 4 19 Gale General OneFile - Document number: GALE|A18649578. Contents June 2025 The introduction describes Mississippi before the U.S. Civil War. The book then describes the end of slavery and Jim Crow. The content about the prison begins about the midway point of the book.Reed Jr. Adolph ""Worse Than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice The Nation New York City 1996 262 18 44 Gale General OneFile - Document number: GALE|A18283942. The book has the lyrics of prison-related songs. At times the book's text describes the state of events circa 1996 and it has tangents on other subjects. James McPherson of The New York Times stated that the book demonstrated that prisoner life "was very much like slavery" though it "is not clear" whether the book demonstrates that prison life was harsher than slavery.McPherson James https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/25/nnp/19465.html Parchman's Plantation The New York Times 1996-04-28 2025-06-04 Reception June 2025 Goodman described the book as "timely". Goodman stated that it "reads like a quietly powerful piece of music, less blues than jazz". McPherson described the book as "vigorous, hard-hitting". McPherson argued that the chapter describing the prisoners' lives in the 1904-1930 period was the "best" one. Brad Hooper, in Booklist, stated that the book is "rigorous" and "should be accorded an important place on the u.s. history shelf."Hooper Brad https://www.booklistonline.com/products/993376 Social sciences -- "Worse Than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice by David M. Oshinsky The Booklist 1996-02-15 92 12 970 Gale General OneFile - Document number: GALE|A18071339 Hooper stated that the history of Parchman was "a horror story". Adolf Reed Jr., in The Nation stated that the work is "an especially welcome reminder" of past race relations that Reed argued would be undesirable to return to. See also Down on Parchman Farm - A 1999 book on Parchman References Further reading Ayoub Nina C Note bene: Worse Than Slavery The Chronicle of Higher Education 1996 42 33 A14 Beauregard Sue-Ellen Nonfiction -- "Worse Than Slavery" by David M. Oshinsky The Booklist 1996 92 12 998 Feldman Glenn Oshinsky, "Worse than Slavery" (Book Review) The Journal of American History 1997 83 4 1416–1419 10.2307/2952972 2952972 Grossman James R American Gulag David Oshinsky, "Worse Than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice" (Book Review) Reviews in American History 1997 25 2 270 10.1353/rah.1997.0047 Hemmens Craig Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice The Prison Journal 1997 77 1 114–116 10.1177/0032855597077001009 Higbee Mark D. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24452214 Worse than Slavery The Historian 1998 60 4 869–870 24452214 Holmes William F OSHINSKY, "Worse Than Slavery" (Book Review) The Georgia Historical Quarterly 1996 80 3 691–693 Lichtenstein Alex OSHINSKY, '"Worse Than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice' (Book Review) The Journal of Southern History 1997 63 2 431–432 10.2307/2211332 2211332 Mancini Matthew https://academic.oup.com/ajlh/article-abstract/42/4/444/1801624 David M. Oshinsky, "'Worse Than Slavery': Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice" (Book Review) The American Journal of Legal History 1998 42 4 444–446 10.2307/846060 846060 subscription Perkinson Robert Review of: David M. Oshinsky, ""Worse Than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice" Radical History Review April 1998 71 207–216 10.1215/01636545-1998-71-207 Reidy Joseph P. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/2717522 David M. Oshinsky, "Worse Than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice The Journal of Negro History April 1997 82 2 263–264 10.2307/2717522 2717522 subscription Worse than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice Law & Social Inquiry 1998 23 3 730 External links "Worse than Slavery" - Simon and Schuster Category:1996 non-fiction books Category:Books about Mississippi Category:Articles with quotation marks in the title