Douglas A. Blackmon (born 1964) is an American writer and journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for his book, '' Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II.''

Early life and education

Blackmon was born in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and grew up in

Leland, Mississippi Leland is a city in Washington County, Mississippi, United States. It is located within the Mississippi Delta, on the banks of Deer Creek. The population was 4,481 at the 2010 census. It was once a railway town and had long been a center of cott ...

, in the Mississippi Delta. He has said that the small town of 6,000 was evenly split between blacks and whites; the county and area, one of plantations, was majority black. It was the site of a plantation

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

among black laborers, leading to extensive

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

activity in the mid-twentieth century.Bo Emerson, "Douglas A. Blackmon discusses African-American labor"
, ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'', 3 September 2009, accessed 17 October 2012 He graduated from

Hendrix College Hendrix College is a private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas. Approximately 1,000 students are enrolled, mostly undergraduates. While affiliated with the United Methodist Church, the college offers a secular curriculum and has a student ...

Career

Bernie Sanders (22198449539 3af914e637 n)

Blackmon first worked as a reporter for the ''

Arkansas Democrat The ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell. It is distributed for sale in all 75 of Arkansas' counties. By virtue of one of ...

'' and he later worked as the managing editor of the ''Daily Record'', both in

Little Rock ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

. He later moved to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, where he worked as a reporter at ''

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

''. In 1995, he began working for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' and in 2012 became its Atlanta bureau chief. While there, he shared the 2011 Gerald Loeb Award for Large Newspapers for the story "Deep Trouble". In 2008, Blackmon published ''Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

,'' which explored the history of

peonage Peon ( English , from the Spanish ''peón'' ) usually refers to a person subject to peonage: any form of wage labor, financial exploitation, coercive economic practice, or policy in which the victim or a laborer (peon) has little control over em ...

and

convict lease Convict leasing was a system of forced penal labor which was practiced historically in the Southern United States, the laborers being mainly African-American men; it was ended during the 20th century. (Convict labor in general continues; f ...

labor in the South after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. He revealed the stories of tens of thousands of slaves and their descendants who journeyed into freedom after

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

issued the Emancipation Proclamation and then journeyed back into the shadow of

involuntary servitude Involuntary servitude or involuntary slavery is a legal and constitutional term for a person laboring against that person's will to benefit another, under some form of coercion, to which it may constitute slavery. While laboring to benefit anothe ...

, which lasted into the 20th century. Official website In 2009, Blackmon was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for ''Slavery by Another Name''. A documentary film which is based on Blackmon's book and also titled ''Slavery by Another Name,'' was aired on February 13, 2012, on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

stations. The film can be viewed in its entirety on the PBS website. From 2012 until 2018 Blackmon was the host and executive producer of '' American Forum'', a weekly public-affairs program that was broadcast on more than 100 PBS stations in the United States. It was produced in conjunction with the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

Miller Center of Public Affairs The Miller Center is a nonpartisan affiliate of the University of Virginia that specializes in United States presidential scholarship, public policy, and political history. History The Miller Center was founded in 1975 through the philanthrop ...

, where Blackmon was a senior fellow and the Director of Public Programs."Douglas Blackmon"
Miller Center, accessed August 17, 2017

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackmon, Douglas A. American newspaper journalists 1964 births Living people Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction winners The Wall Street Journal people Hendrix College alumni People from Stuttgart, Arkansas People from Leland, Mississippi Writers from Arkansas Writers from Mississippi American male journalists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American non-fiction writers American Book Award winners Gerald Loeb Award winners for Large Newspapers