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Blacks Were Enslaved Well into the 1960s

African American field hands "choppin' cotton" under the hot sun of the Mississippi Delta. Photo by Nathan Benn/Corbis via Getty Images

Historian and genealogist Antoinette Harrell has uncovered cases of African Americans still living as slaves 100 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. The 57-year-old Louisiana native has dedicated more than 20 years to peonage research. Through her work, she's unearthed painful stories in Southern states like Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Florida. Over a series of interviews, she told Justin Fornal about how she became an expert of modern slavery in the United States.