The workers in the background of these photographs were an unintended addition, as the photos were meant to display the woolen mill equipment. Inadvertently, they give us a glimpse into the lives of workers at the El Reno Woolen Mill.
On loan from the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
The use of imprisoned labor predates industrialization. Often incarcerated for no other reason than being poor, people were pulled from the workhouse for labor in the British woolen industry.
The use of imprisoned labor predates industrialization. Often incarcerated for no other reason than being poor, people were pulled from the workhouse for labor in the British woolen industry.
The use of imprisoned labor predates industrialization. Often incarcerated for no other reason than being poor, people were pulled from the workhouse for labor in the British woolen industry.
Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865 and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution formally abolished slavery in the United States but it left the door open for involuntary servitude as a form of punishment. It reads, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” (emphasis added).
Cornell’s Thirteenth Amendment manuscript is one of 14 souvenir or commemorative copies of the Amendment signed by Lincoln and 150 of the senators and representatives who voted for it.
Gift of Nicholas H. and Marguerite Lilly Noyes
