About this episode

This episode explores the life of Zebulon Ward, a slave trader and pioneer of the convict leasing system in post-Civil War America.

In addition to being a slave trader and the kidnapper of Henrietta Wood (which we heard about in our last episode), Kentuckian Zebulon Ward made a fortune as a pioneer of the convict leasing system, which, through a loophole in the 13th Amendment, continued slavery by another name for decades after the Civil War.

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