“In slavery, it was not important for them to know how old they were, or what their birth date was or little details like that.”
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Shackles and other artifacts from the site
(Courtesy Fort Bend Independent School District)
Cemetery excavation site, Sugar Land, Texas
(Courtesy Fort Bend Independent School District)
SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME
“In 1908, the state had bought 5,235 acres of land from Imperial Sugar, establishing the Imperial Farm Prison. The incarcerated were forced to provide agricultural labor for the prison farm until the state closed the prison in 2011. The Fort Bend Independent School District purchased the former prison’s land seven years ago and, in compliance with Texas’s Antiquities Code, commissioned an archaeological evaluation of the site. The skeletons were uncovered during the evaluation by Goshawk Environmental Consulting, Inc. Archaeologists believe that the remains can be tied to late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century African-American prisoners who were forced to work the plantation as part of the state’s post–Civil War convict-lease system. Many historians have called the convict-lease system “slavery by another name.” Researchers plan to study the bones before they are reinterred to learn more about life under those harsh conditions.”
“When you know this happened to one of your ancestors — it’s deplorable,”
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Present Day
Sugar Land 95 honored decades after they were forced to work on plantations.
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How to Support the Project
- Descendant Outreach: The project is actively seeking the public’s help. If your family has deep 13th-century roots in Texas, Louisiana, or Arkansas, you can contact researchers to see if your lineage matches the historical profiles.
- DNA Sample Submissions: Living potential relatives can submit DNA test samples through the Principal Research Group Updates Page. All submitted genomic information is strictly protected and kept in an offline, private database.
- Charitable Donations: You can directly fund DNA sample collection, database comparison testing, and chemical isotope analysis by making a financial contribution to the non-profit Principal Research Group.
- Educational Support: You can purchase a commemorative “Found and Not Forgotten” t-shirt directly from the Fort Bend ISD Sugar Land 95 Portal, with the proceeds helping to fund ongoing memorialization and community education efforts.
An area to reflect, to remember, and to make sure history never repeats itself.
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“In February 2018, construction workers in Sugar Land, Texas made a historic discovery: the remains of 95 African Americans in unmarked graves at the former Imperial Farm Prison site. This discovery sparked a renewed interest in a dark chapter of post-Civil War history: the convict leasing system.
These individuals, now known as the “Sugar Land 95,” were primarily Black men who were forced to work on sugar plantations in the late 1800s and early 1900s under the convict leasing system—a practice that many historians describe as slavery by another name.”
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