this is leonard hooper who was also leased out. thousands of men cycled through this system over a period of decades. the convict lease system in alabama was not officially outlawed until 1928. in other states it was outlawed in the teens and the '20s generally. as these men worked, especially in the mines, they were generally shackled 24 hours a day. this is a set of those shackles. these come from the banner mine, here in the birmingham area. a large number of these men were killed in an explosion at the banner mine. it was one of the most deadly mine explosions in alabama. you can imagine wearing these 24 hours a day. trying to dig coal, wearing these, eating, sleeping, spending all of your time shackled like this for months or years at the time. one of the earliest issues in the terms of civil rates in birmingham was the need for african-american families to have access to equal and decent housing. like many cities, birmingham was racially segregated. its neighborhoods were segregated. and as the black population grew here, the