Chattahoochee Brick Company

1886

Southern states created laws that made it easy to arrest African Americans for minor offenses such as loitering. Men and women convicted of such crimes could then be leased by local authorities to railroads, mines, factories, plantations, and private homes.

Operated by a former mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, the Chattahoochee Brick Company was a brick-making company that used convict labor. It produced millions of bricks but had grueling working conditions, which resulted in high mortality rates among workers, many of whom were African American. This brick was made by convict laborers at the Chattahoochee Brick Company around 1890.