SURGAR LAND, TX (KTRK/CNN) - Nearly 100 graves found at a school construction site in Texas are believed to be the remains of slaves.
Crews were building a technology center in Sugar Land, TX when they discovered the bodies.
"It's huge, it's unprecedented,” said Reign Clark, an archaeological project manager. "This will change our understanding of the convict labor system that was used all over the state."
More than a century after their deaths, the abuse was still obvious. You can see it in the chains they wore and the tools they worked with.
"When you do activity over and over and over again, and you're doing heavy labor, it will actually stress the attachments where the muscles are attached to the bone and it will actually leave marks and actually change the shape of the bone," said Catrina Banks-Whitley, a bio-archaeologist. "And so we're seeing a lot of (evidence that) shows they were doing very heavy labor from probably a very young age."
All of the 95 bodies appear to be male aged 14 to 60. They were most likely part of a convict labor camp.
In a system that was widespread in the South after the Civil War, freed slaves were arrested, then taken from state prisons and forced to work in places like Sugar Land, where sugar production drove the local economy.
"The guards out here used to tell the men, 'you're worth less than that mule over here because we have to pay for the mule and the sheriff will bring more of you guys anytime you need it,' " said Richard Vogel, a sociologist.
Fort Bend officials are now working with historians to find a place to re-bury these bodies with the honor they deserve.
But now the question is could there be other hidden cemeteries like this in Sugar Land?
"There are at least two or three other likely convict labor camps and it's likely that there could be cemeteries associated with each," Clark said.
"They should have some sort of memorial and museum that we're trying to put together and also a memorial at the state capitol that these guys built off the public labor," said Reginald Moore of the Texas Labor Society Center.
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